
Class _ 
Book__-S-C^C.5: 








^' 






\\: 



J • 



% 9 • * ' * '.* 



t V 



Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2010 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/mapsreportsofsanOOcinc 



CINCINNATI & SONORA 



MINING ASSOCIATION. 



MAPS AND REPORTS 



SAN JUAN DEL RIO RANCHE, 



I 

Sonora, Mexico. 



By CUMMINGS CHERRY and JAMES CHERRY, 

GEOLOGISTS AND MINING ENOIN]«EBS. 



REPORT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE, STATISTICS OF 
SILVER MINING, TRANSCRIPT OF TITLE, & C. 



, . CIKCINNATI: 

WRIGHTSON & CO., 167 WALNUT STREET. 
1866. 



^ 



.^^' 



Contents. 



Agricultural Products 7, ■iS 

Aitiiiys of Ores 82, 83. 84 

ClierVy, C., Li-tters coinplinicutary to, 11, 78 

Cotton b'lictory ut San Miguel, M 

Errata, ^38 

Estimates of Exiwnditure, 7'J 

Lauds, Arable, 7, 45 

Pasture, 47 

Mining Estimates, 79 

Profits of Silver 80, 85 

Sales of Stocks, 81 

Minerals, ti, 83 

Mines, Summary, 5 

Historical Reports, 55,56, 57 

GeniTal richness, (iO 

Yield of Mexican Silver 85 

Aguaje, 50 

Babiacora, 1"7 

Babicaniira, H'^ 

Banamachi, ........108 

Clierunivava, 34, •'io, o7, -iO 

Cinco Sonores, 37, 83, 87 

Dolores, 1"7 

Don Eduardo, 33, 82, 84 

Don Juan 37, Ki 

El Carman, HI 

El Rosario, 32 

Garrigou, 3i2 

Heupaca, 1"7 

Huacal, 32, r,6 

La Cananea, 1-1 

Lam Paso-, l;*-* 

La Plomosa, 37 

Las Plomosas, 21* 

La Providencia, 134 

Nacosari 54, 55, 5G, 59, 110 

Oposura, ^^* 

Pinal 3.0, 5i;, 57 

Promontorio '34 

San Jose de Gracia '••'^ 

San Juan Bauti^te, ^ •'>9 

San Juan del Uio 24 

San Juan de Sonora, I'' 

San Nicholas, •"• 30 

San Patricio 27, 82, H.J 

San Pedro 3o, 5.) 

Santa Theresa 130 

Taho 30 

Tepache, '•* 

Toapatz, ••• 23 

Valenzuello 20, 53, 83 

Pesqueira, Gov., visit to, 01, VIo 

Letter from 137 

Placers, Bacuachi ''-J 

Joriquipe 30 

Other, '31 

Beports of Special Committee 3 

Geological, Ij) 

General **' 

Reports, Extracts from — 

Bourui-'rt •'•'' 

Ficucro's IJS 

Gamlioa's Sil 

Ward's '7 

Wilson's 00 

River, Taqui ^j} 

Sonora, and Vnll.y lOo 

Oposura, and Valley, 113 



Roads 4, 44, 47, 80 

Souora, Description of, pat$im 

Conduct of Officials, 137 

Extent of Travels in, 132 

Mineral Wealth, 60 

San Juan del Rio Uanche — 

Accessibility 4 

Advantages for operating 39 

Agricultural Products, 45 

Ancient History, 15 

Certificates of value 53 

Climate, 49 

Estimates of Expenditure, 79 

Extent and Topography, 4, 14 

General and special value, 52 

Geology and Mineralogy, 16 

Labor 48 

Lands, quantity 4, 7, 45, 47 

Mauulactures needed, 49 

Mines, 24 

Mining Estimates, 79 

Obstacles to Mining, 50 

Official extent of, 74 

Ores, 39, 51, 82, 83, 84 

Reports, Bourne's, 56 

Figuero's, 55 

Ward's 59 

Roads, 4, 44, 47 

Specimens, 7, 51, 83 

Sub-division and Colony, 49 

Surveyor's description, 71 

Timber, 7, 43, 45, 53 

Water-Powers, 6, 40 

Shareholders 3 

Silver Mining, Profits of, 80 

Talc, Deposits of, lU 

Title, History of, 61 

Grant, in Spanish 64 

Translation, 62 

Certificates of validity, 62 

Assignment to E. Conkling, 64 

Denouncements, 66, 116 

Acknowled:;ements of, ...67.. 76 

Surve^or appointed, 09 

Oftii-ial Survey 70, 74 

Recognized by Gov. Salaxar, 76 

by Gov. Pesqueira, 61, 125, 137 

Summary, 132, 135 

Timber, 7, 43, 45, 53 

Towns, Description of — 

Ba.Miachi, 118 

Calabasas l'-5 

Ciicur|)e, 130 

Cum pas, 1 12 

Granadas, 133 

Guaymas 87 

Herinosillo, 91 

II nasal 'MS, 133 

Masidalena 120, 129 

Oji) de Agua, 120 

San Juan de Sonora, 115 

Santa (.'ruz, 123 

Topaliue 'J7 

Ures 99 

Veins, Segregated 20 

True 21 

Water- Powers, ''- *<> 



Lj^9^1'''l 



OP 

SPECIAL COMMITTEE. 



Messrs. Enoch T. Cakson, Chas. C. Reakirt, S. S. Davis, 

Jas.D. Thompson, Edgar Conkling, Wm.Wood, 

Wm. T. Perkins, Jackson Slane, Jos. Kinsey, 

Thos. Spooner, Wm. W. McGrew, Wm. Sumner, 

Henry Kessler, John R. Wright, R. H. Collins, 

Members of the Cincinnati Land and Mining Association, of 
Sonora, Mexico. 

Gentlemen: — On the loth of July, 1865, you began in 
earnest the work of selecting and locating, and thereby vi- 
talizing, the Sonora Concession or Land Grant of Mr. Ed- 
gar Conkling, which had been lying idle from the date of 
its original issue by the Mexican Government to Mr. Charles 
Denman, March 27, 1857. 

In securing the services of Messrs. Cummings Cherry and 
son James Cherry, Geologists and Mining Engineers, the 
result has proved that you were exceedingly fortunate. The 
indomitable energy, cool courage, patient toU, wonderful 
powers of endurance, and high professional skill exhibited 
by these gentlemen, under circumstances the most trying 
and against obstacles well nigh insurmountable, enables us 
to congratulate you upon a success as magnificent as it is 
gratifying and astonishing. They have secured for us the 
most valuable unimproved mining property in j^orth 
America. 

The time of locating this Grant, although deemed inaus- 
picious by inteUigent persons both in Sonora and in San 
Francisco, by reason of the civil war now raging, was in real- 



ity the best possible ; for hazardous as was the uiulertik- 
iiig, we were yet enabled to select the best property, with- 
out the competition or opposition that our agents must 
have encountered, had they reached there when citizens and 
foieigners were alike devoted to mining and other peaceful 
pursuits. 

Location and Survey. — This Grant of " four square 
Mexican leagues of untitled lands in Sonora," we had in- 
structed them to locate with special regard to the greatest 
concentration of minerals, with water and water-power, fire- 
wood, timber, and accessibility to market. This happy com- 
bination was realized in the selection and survey of the 
ancient San Juan del Rio ranche, of about 25,000 acres, 
on the Yaqui River, in latitude 30° 40' North, and longi- 
tude 109° West, about 41 miles South of the Arizona 
line, 55 miles West of the Chihuahua Hue, and 250 miles 
North-East from Guaymas, the best harbor on the Gulf of 
California. Before deciding upon this property, they had 
made thorough ex[tloration of at least twenty-eight known 
Mining Districts, besides many others whose names could 
not be ascertained. An olHcial survey was made of the prop- 
erty, corner monuments erected, and all the forms of Mexi- 
can law strictly complied with : and the National record evi- 
dence of title may be expected at an early day, from the 
Department of Fomento, Colonization, Industry and Com- 
merce of the Mexican Republic, of all of which we have cer- 
tified documentary evidence. 

Access ib Hit!/,— ^y a good wagon road from Guaymas, 
through San Marcial, Matape, Oposura (or more properly 
Moctezuma,) Cumpas, and Nacosari, we reach a point as 
far North as San Juan del Rio, and West of it but ten 
leagues. 

Over this ten leagues was formerly a good wagon road, now 
needing much repair. About 3 leagues of the distance will 



require considerable grading ; but by lengthening the route 
through a pass North of the old trail, a better road can be 
made, at less expense. 

Another route leads from Moctezuma eastward, over a 
wagon road to Granados, and thence northward along the 
bed of the Yaqui River through Oputo to San Juan del Kio. 
A heavier outlay wiU be needed to make this passable 
than over the first named route. On either route much of 
the distance is over roads which have no superior in any 
country. 

Two other routes may be pursued : one through Hermo- 
sillo and Ures ; the other direct from the mouth of the 
Yaqui Hiver, following its course to the mines. 

The Mines.— The Mines in the vicinity of the old towns 
of Toapatz and San Juan, the Valenzuello, San Patricio, 
San Juan, Santa Helena, San Nicholas, and San Filepe mines,' 
besides others whose names are unknown, are embraced with- 
in the boundaries of our survey. These were all extensively 
worked, many years ago. And tradition— the lost archives 
of the State of Sonora— the historical collections and re- 
ports of Ward, Wilson, D'Aumaille, Col. Bourne, Mowrf, 
Bartlett, and others— together with the debris, deposits of 
slag and rubbish, outcrops, and stiU partially exposed exca- 
vations—all bear unmistakable testimony to the immense 
mineral wealth hoarded here. The Yalenzuello mine alone, 
in the short period of two years, yielded over |2,000,000, 
This vein at the surface is 6 feet, at 40 feet below increases 
to 10 feet, and seemingly widens with the depth. The San 
Patricio vein where exposed is not less than 20 feet wide, 
the San Juan 5 feet, Santa Helena 8 feet, San Nicholas 5 
feet, San Filepe 4 feet, while the other veins are each 3 to 
6 feet on the surface, and all are likely to widen with the 
depth. Some of the veins were traced for miles in length. 



Mineralfi. — Segregated mineral veins seldom, if ever, 
justify much outlay to develop them, because they are not 
permanent. The veins upon the vSan Juan del Rio property 
are true fissure veins, permanent and reliable in their char- 
acter, and are of that class which have been fitly styled 
" the grand repositories of the precious metals." Silver 
occurs here in almost every form — native, antimonial, sul- 
phurets, silver glance, chloride and chloro-bromide. Copper 
occurs in the several forms of gray, pyrites, red and black 
oxides, sulphates, sulphurets, &c. Lead and gold are in 
quantities to pay abundantly, under scientific prccesses oi 
separation. Hydraulic lime and fire clay are found, and of 
superior quahty. The imperfect modes of separation and 
reduction employed by the ancient owners of the mines have 
left immense deposits which, under the advances latterly 
made in metallurgy, will release vast quantities of wealth. 
The unlimited abundance of the ores here is another great 
feature of value. The San Patricio mine alone Avould fur- 
nish employment for a one hundred stamp mill. And the 
character of the ores makes them cheaply and easily min- 
able and reducible. 

Water JPowet\ — The Yaqui River, a strong and rapid 
stream — the largest in Sonora, if not the only one deserving 
the name — runs through this property for eight miles. A 
few hundred yards below where it enters the property 
is a caiion or natural gap through the mountain, with 
high perpendicular walls. A dam here, of 8 feet hight 
and 400 feet width, at a cost of say $25,000, Avill furnish 
water-power for several hundred stamps. Cheaper water- 
powers can be built, at several points below on the river. 
This is probably the only mining property in Sonora or 
Arizona where the supply of water is abundant and inex- 
haustible, so as enth-ely to avoid the necessity for steam, and 
yet keep the mills in constant operation. 



Timber. — At least one thousand acres are thickly stud- 
ded with heurigo trees from 3 to 8 feet in diameter, 80 to 
120 feet high, and straight as an arrow. Besides this, mes- 
quit, cotton-wood, ash, willow, walnut and sycamore trees 
cover some five thousand acres. The forest of heurigo tim- 
ber — the only one known to us in the State — is very valu- 
able. The wood is light, of finer grain than mahogany, 
susceptible of a beautiful polish, and as indestructible as 
cedar. It may yet become a source of considerable profit. 
The mesquit makes superior charcoal, burns long, and gives 
an intense heat. 

Farming Lands. — The River valley on this property, 
hemmed in by mountains, has some 5,000 acres of rich 
bottom land, formerly cultivated and highly productiv . 
Wheat, corn, peas, beans, sugar cane, cotton, tobacco and 
many other products are all successfully raised in the neigh- 
boring settlements. The corn is equal to the best grown in 
Ohio, while the wheat is very superior, and yields from 100 
to 250 bushels for each bushel sown. All the fruits of the 
tropical and many of the temperate zone thrive here. Pas- 
ture exists all the year round, and very nutritious in quality. 
Thus we will be home producers of all agricultural supplies. 

Neiglihoring Mines. — There are many mines of great 
wealth within a circuit of 60 miles or more, which are so 
deficient in water, water-power, and timber, as to be to a great 
extent dependent upon our property for the beneficiating of 
their minerals. They must bring no inconsiderable propor- 
tion of their ores to us to be stamped and rendered 
marketable. 

Surface Speci^nens of such of the minerals and woods 
as were allowed to be brought through the military lines, 
are now on exhibition in the cabinet of the Association. 



8 

Oovetnnnentf &e. — The Avitlidmwal or retirement of 
the Imperial forces from Sonora, followed ii[) by the Lihenils, 
is steadily restoring some degree of order and quite to the 
country, and will thus remove the most serious difficulty to 
early and succe^rsful mining. We propose to be pioneers of 
the gTeat American wave of miners that will flow in by the 
ocean from San Francisco, or roll down from the segregated 
mines of Arizona to the great fissure mines of Northern 
Sonora. 

The contrast between the small mining properties of our 
country — with lodes only a few hundred feet long, valued at 
half a million to millions of dollars, and annually exporting 
an aggregate of $20,000,000 of silver and $50,000,000 of 
gold — and our own, will exhibit in formidable proportions 
the San Juan del Rio property ; with its numerous rich lodes 
extending miles in length and thousands of feet in depth. 

But with all the latent wealth of this large and valuable 
property, and the practicability of making it available, j^our 
Committee, in the light of experience in mining generallv, 
would earnestly recommend the employment of men not only 
of practical and scientific ability, but who will, beyond a fixed 
living salary from your limited working capital, be satisfied 
with a liberal percentage of what it is reasonable to expect 
may be set aside as a dividend within tw o years. 

Confiding in the integrity of the special report of the 
Messrs. Cherry, as to the numerous extensive and rich veins 
of gold, silver, lead, copper, &c., and the practicability of erect- 
ing a dam and machinery during the year, and the reason- 
able amount of outLiy to reach a 'producing point, it is not 
extravagant to say that, before the close ' of two } ears, the 
net products will be equal to at least two thousand dollars 
'per clajj, exceeding a half milHon dollars annually. 

Five per cent, of such profits, added to a fixed moderate 
salary, will greatly exceed the salary paid to any manager 



of ninety- nine in a hundred of the largest mining and 
manufacturing compHniess of this country. To expend your 
working capital in large salaries before reaching a pro- 
ductive point, will not only foolishly exhaust your means, 
but destroy confidence in your management, and prevent 
capitalists from uniting with you in furnishing means. The 
mutual success of capital and skill requires mutual confidence 
in results ; the one hesitating defeats the other. You can 
alone hope for the bountiful rewards of nature from a liberal 
expenditure of skill and labor, with a prudent outlay of money. 
In the difference between receipts and outlays consists your 
profits, and only as you are watchful of these will this prop- 
erty pay. The policy we recommend is the only one that 
is mutual, as well as just and protective to stockholders ; 
and now, on the eve of inaugurating an enterprise that may 
be made a perpetual institution, yielding annually from fifty 
to one hundred per cent, dividends on your stock of One 
Million of Dollars, is the time to require skill, economy, in- 
dustry, and honesty, in all your operations, induced by a 
liberal remuneration from the property itself, and all con- 
ducted in a business-like manner, disallowing of the least 
indebtedness beyond your available means. This policy, of 
a liberal interest in the net profits, will stimulate managers 
to reahze more than any certain yet large salaries, especial- 
ly at a point distant and impracticable for the stockholders 
to visit, and is the strongest guarantee of a wise administra- 
tion of their interests. 

Your mining agents can readily appreciate and confide in 
this plan for compensation; and hesitancy on their part might 
well create doubts about your ability to long continue to pay 
salaries at all. By a firm adherence to this pohcy, we are 
confident you can raise |2 00,0 00 from the sales of your re- 
served stock, with which to make your mines certainly pro- 
ductive, and your stock, within twelve months, worth par. 



10 

Our confulonco in the Report of Messrs. Cherry isgi-eatly 
increased from the fiict of their assenting to its pubUcation 
at an early day, endorsed with their reputation for truthful- 
ness and ability, and encourages us to hope for the above 
results. We may reasonably expect they will, as stock- 
holders, and as discoverers and locators of your mines and 
property, unite with you in this policy, and arrange to be 
your Managing Agents. We recommend, in addition to a 
fixed salary, that you pay them each five per cent, of such 
sums as may be set apart annually or semi-annually for div- 
idends. If you can thus arrange with them, we recommend 
an immediate organization of a Stock Company of One Mil- 
Uon of Dollars, in shares of one hundred dollars. 

The Geological and Mining Report of your Agents, Messrs. 
C BERRY, is probably the most scientific and reliable now to be 
obtained of Northern Mexico, and fully confirms the unani- 
mous record of historians and explorers for hundreds of years, 
that North-eastern Sonora is richer in the precious minerals 
than any other known territory. The difficulties surmounted 
by them, resulting from the present war in Mexico and the 
presence of the contending armies, coupled with their final 
success in securing what is probably the finest mining prop- 
erty in Mexico, gives us great confidence in their future 
maniigement in its development, under the poHcy here 

recommended. 

Wm. T. Perkins, 
Edgar Conkling, 
Richard II. Collins, 
William Wood, 
John R. Wright, 
Jackson Slane, 

Committee. 



11 



Office of Pittsburgh and Boston Mining Company. 

PlTTSBUEGH, Julj 7, 1865. 

CmmiNGS CHERRy, Esq., Dear Sir : 

Mr. Carpenter called yesterday to see me in relation to 
your qualifications to serve Ms Cincinnati friends in their 
projected enterprise in Sonora. 

I stated to him that for the last twelve or fifteen years 
you had been absent from Pittsburgh, and employed in the 
mining regions of the West, where I had no doubt you had 
acquired much valuable information in relation to the geolog- 
ical and mineralogical character of the country. That 
your knowledge was no doubt rather of a practical than 
scientific character, acquired from obseiTation and experience 
amongst the rocks, more than from the study of books. 
That in the summer of 1845 you had been employed to ex- 
plore a tract of land belonging to this Company, in the then 
new field of mining enterprise on the southern shore of Lake 
Superior. That your operations were conducted with skill 
and good judgment, and were eminently successful, resulting 
in what has since been known as the " Cliff Mine," and from 
which there has been extracted between six and seven mil- 
lions of dollars worth of Copper. That your business rela- 
tions tvith the Company during the brief period you were 
in its employ had been in all respects satisfactory. That 
while I had known but little of your business history during 
your absence, I had heard nothing to your prejudice in busi- 
ness aff lirs, nor as to your loyalty to the Government. 
Yours respectfully, 
THOMAS M. HOWE, Sec'y P. ^ B. 31. Co. 
C. F. HUSSEY, President. 
H. CHILDS, One of the Board of Directors 



GEOLOGICAL REPORT 

BY 
CUMMINGS CHERRY. 



To the Members of the Cincinnati Mining ^ Land Association 

of Sonora, Mexico : 
Gentlemen : 

In the Articles of Agreement entered into the thirteenth 
day of July, 1865, it was desired that in locating lands un- 
der the grant therein described, I should have special regard 
to the greatest concentration of minerals, together with 
water, fire-wood, timber, salt, water-power, and accessibility 
to market. In my April report from Sonora, I remarked 
that I had determined upon securing the San Juan del Rio 
Ranche, for the reason that " among all the lands owned, 
operated or abandoned, which I had seen in my tour of in- 
vestigation, I believed the lands which would be comprised 
in a survey of this property, contained the greatest concen- 
tration of the advantages which were deemed requisite to a 
location of your grant." In after investigations, I saw no 
reasons to induce me to change this conclusion ; and that it 
was not arrived at hurriedly, or without due investigation, 
you will understand when I inform you that before deter- 
mining it, I visited the minerales of Hermosillo and vicinity, 
(Ubarbold, El Aguaje and Subiate,) of San Miguel, San 
Jose de Gracia, Babiacara, Heupaca, Banamachi, Babicano 
ra, Cumpas, San Juan Bautiste, Oposura, Tepache, Lam Pa 
SOS, Promontorio, San Juan del Rio, Valenzuello, Nacosari, 
Fronteras, Bacuachi, Cananea, Santa Cruz, Planchas de 



14 

Plata, Sarique, Magdalena, Santa Theresa, Agua Priets, Ca- 
jon de la Brisca, and very many others whose names I could 
not ascertain ; that, in fact, I visited every section of North- 
ern Sonora wherein I was informed or imagined there exist- 
ed mineral veins or deposits. I afterwards succeeded in 
securing this San Juan del Rio property for you, as you 
will perceive from my General Report, and the documents 
herewith accompanying. 

LOCATION, EXTENT AND TOPOGKAPHT. 

The lands of San Juan del Rio, which comprise those of 
the ancient Ranche of this name, are situated on the Yaqui 
River, the river coursing through the longitudinal centre of 
the tract — in latitude 30° 40' North, and longitude 
109° West. They are 5 leagues North of the Mexican 
town of Oputo, about 15 leagues South of the Arizona line, 
and 20 leagues West of the Chihuahua line. The distance 
from the port of Guaymas is 90 leagues. The official sur- 
vey names the extent of lands, as designated by the boun- 
dary monuments which were erected, to be slightly less than 
four square Mexican leagues, thougb by accurate measure- 
ment there are undoubtedly sh leagues or more. 

The topographical features of the lands are parallel moun- 
tain ranges, the intervals between which are plains having 
a gradual descent from the sierras into a valley of bottom 
lands of considerable extent. The plains are not always 
regular, being cut up by creek beds and tributary caiions, 
or broken by occasional low spurs or ranges of the loftier 
sierras, and forming in their intervals almost isolated valleys 
and plateaus; thus giving to the face of the country a 
mixed or corrugated appearance. 

The main mountains are the first steppes of the Sierra 
Madre, west, lying parallel with the river and forming res- 
pectively the East and West Umits of these lands. They 



15 

rise to a Light of 5000 to 7000 feet and are dissimilar in 
topography to those parallel ranges yet further West, which, 
as they approach the California Gulf, become more irregular 
and broken in their appearance, or those of the North West, 
which form isolated peaks or detached groups. 

ANCIENT HISTOEY. 

This property forms the centre of a very ancient mining 
district, whose '^ mines were legion and ores unsurpassed in 
richness." Being among the first spots selected by the 
cultivated Jesuits for the building up of a future home, they 
quickly brought into subjection the luxuriant wildness of 
its valleys, and developed the veins of wealth buried in its 
rugged mountains, until, in the language of those who lived 
and wrote in those days, it became the " most delightful 
spot in Mexico." Even at this late day, when we view the 
evidences of the former existence of a large and flourishing 
community, in the ruined haciendas and smelting furnaces, 
and stumble over the dilapidated acequias [irrigating canals] 
and among the tangled fruit shrubberies, mounds and tumu- 
lis, with Hues of earth-works, and find fragments of pottery 
upon every ridge, and note, in all these ruins, a finish and 
design bespeaking for their projectors a higher grade of 
civilization than has since visited this unfortunate country, 
we can imagine how it were possible to make it worthy of 
even such extravagant encomiums. On March 5th, 1742, 
when prosperity was at its hight, and the towns were teem- 
ing with people and wealth, the Apache Indians made a de- 
scent upon it; and in a few hours the settlements of Oputo, 
Tren, Nori, Toapatz, Terras, Joriquipe, Cherunivava, Pinal, 
Garrigon, Eeal Viejo, Aguaje, Huacal, Nacosari, and Peiia 
were laid waste. The people of Toapatz, Tren, Nori and 
Joriquipe were all massacred, and there were very few sur- 
vivors from any. A few venturesome spirits repopulated 



16 

Chomnivava; but two years after the real was again attacked, 
and its people killed and houses destroyed. Since then no 
elVort has been made to settle these old reals. In 1800, or 
shortly after, the mines of the Sie-rra Valenzuello were dis- 
covered by gambucinos, the first who had ventured thus far 
since the depopulation, 60 years before. So productive were 
the mines that their fame spread to the southern towns and 
neighboring State, and soon, a considerable mining popula- 
tion had gathered. I'he mining real of San Juan del Rio 
was quickly built up, forming a large town ; reduction furna- 
ces were erected, and prosperity and activity again ruled. 
Had this activity been permitted to continue, but a short 
time would have elapsed until the long abandoned mines of 
the Jesuits would again have been made to yield their trib- 
utes of riches to the adventurous ; but the Apaches again 
swarmed in on the almost defenceless people, and being em- 
boldened by the slight resistance shown, they attacked the 
town, and but few survivors were left to tell the result. Oputo, 
5 leagues below, has lately been repopulated ; but none of the 
native inhabitants except an occasional party of gambucinos 
have ventured farther North. 

GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY. 

Geologically the formations of San Juan del Rio differ 
very materially from those of the more westerly ranges, and 
particularly, of the North West, (for a description of which 
see General Report) ; and in projmrtion to this difference is 
the increased degree of mineral wealth. The main ranges 
consist principally of the granitic and metamorphic rocks, 
the leading crests being capped b}^ a compact gray sienite, 
having a crystalline base of amphibole, greenish in cast, 
scattered through which are gi-ains of orthoclase (glassy 
feldspar), and crystals of actinolite. 

I have seen the oithoclase form the main compound, ac- 



17 

oompanied by hornblende in elongated crj^stals, though these 
are exceptions. Gneiss and slates are rarely found on the 
flanks of the sierras, though in the Western (Nacosari) 
chain they begin to make their appearance; and in the San 
Juan Bautiste range are found the slates of the pa'seozoic, 
sedimentary beds, strongly metamorphosed and twisted and 
cuiTed until it is almost impossible to trace their relation to 
other rocks of the formation. On the lower hills is an am- 
orphous hypogene — a cellular black rock, usually in contact 
with a reddish wacke. The quaternary deposits, stratified 
and composed of the detritus of the underlying formations, 
are found only on the mountain flanks, and seem to be the 
outer edge of that vast area of quaternary deposits which 
stretch away to the Gulf coast, and to the Colorado River. 
The lacrustine deposits of the Bacuachi, Cucurpe and Santa 
Cruz sections are almost wanting ; as are also much of their 
metamorphosed sandstones and hmestones. On the valley 
plateaus, but never extending up to the main crests, are the 
stratified conglomerates which form so great a part of the 
surface formations of the country ; they occur in strata of 
variable texture and thickness, but composed of the quartz- 
iferous and feldspathic porphyries of the sierras. In some 
instances these conglomerates are capped with trappean or 
basaltic rocks, which form the mountain flanks. The great 
feature of this section, however, and that which gives it 
merit above others, is its porphyries which are pre-eminent- 
ly metaUiferous. These are of different varieties, though 
they are principally quartziferous, and not solely hornblen- 
dic as some writers have affirmed. The prevaiKng charac- 
ter is a diorite porphyry, a compact crystalhne with a dark 
greenish cast, and where exposed, discolored through atmos- 
pheric action upon the hornblende contained in it ; it is par- 
ticularly distinguished by albite replacing the oithoclase. 
This is the only locality in which I have seen this diorite 
(2) 



18 

make its appearance. Another class of porphyiy, a com 
pact, gray qiiartziferous with numerous crystals of opaque 
triclinic feldspar plates of mica and specks of magnetic ore, 
is prevalent. Higher up are the trachytic porphyries. la 
contact mth the diorite is an amygdaloid, quartziferous and 
confciining delessite with numerous crystals of triclinic feld- 
spar. These rocks are the true metalliferous rocks of the 
Sierra Madre, and their non-appearance, or the lateral dis- 
turbances to which they have been subjected in some places 
in Western and North Western Soiiora, accounts in a de- 
gree for the uncertain and iiTegular nature of veins in those 
places. 

I note, in this connection, the absence in this region of 
the volcanic peaks, which are so numerous in the North 
Western fields, and, in consequence, no indications of later- 
al eruptions which in those other sections have curved, twist- 
ed and metamorphosed the differing formations into one con- 
fflomeration. I do note the occuiTence of a few faults frac- 
turing the surface rocks, but I find they are confined to 
them and do not affect the relations of the lower strata. 
They may be accounted for by tension and shrinkage; and 
it is not difficult to ascertain the amount of their displace- 
ment, since stratified rocks of dissimilar character are thus 
brought into contact. The mineral veins and even the trap- 
pean dykes occurring in the formation have all a general 
parallelism to each other, from which we must infer that 
here there has been but a single period of eruption, and that 
to this period the veins of San Juan del Rio owe their ori- 
gin. Not so, however, in the disturbed ranges of the West 
or volcanic region of the North West, where — as is shown in 
my General Report — we have anomalies of geology at every 
step, primitive rocks capping tertiary, conglomerates carry- 
ing sections of quartz veins, mineral veins thrown long dis- 
tances fr-om their " mother " formations into those directly 



19 

antagonistic, or cut off by a plutonic, quaternary cutting ig- 
neous, and granites, basalts, and amygdaloids inextricably 
mixed among sandstones, limestones and quaternary, or 
fused together in a confused mass ; all tending to prove the 
occurrence here of many epochs of dislocation, and of lat- 
eral eruptions foUowing the first grand upheaval of the Sier- 
ra Madre above the ocean. The mineral veins in such dis^ 
turbed sections are found running parallel with the cleavage 
planes of the formations in which they occur j while those of 
the San Juan del Rio are found at the junction of forma- 
tions of dissimilar geological character— as for instance be- 
tween the diorite and amygdaloid, or the diorite and felds- 
pathic— or occur across the cleavage of the plane. 

MODE or OCCURRENCE OF FISSURES. 

It would, perhaps, be difficult to determine with accuracy 
the geological epoch during which the successive chains of 
the Sierra Madre were uplifted. I have inferred from the 
geognostic position of the strata that this event took 
place during the tertiary period. That the East and West 
paraUel ranges were conjointly upheaved with the mother 
sierra is evident; though, from the overthrow in the 
tertiary strata forming a feature of the flanking ranges 
of the great central upheaval, it would appear that the 
period of convulsion continued during a considerable after- 
time. That the fissures — which have since been filled with 
mineral matter— were either formed in this epoch or in the 
eruptive ones following is without doubt ; though the deter- 
mination of the particular epoch in which they were formed, 
bears very pertinently on their value as repositories of pre- 
cious metals. The forces— imprisoned gases or vapors 

which tended to cause the upheaval, would also operate to 
rend apart the solid strata as a means of escape. Near the 
axis these forces would naturaUy seek the surface from their 



20 

imprisoned depths, rending their way vertically or nearly so, 
and against the plane of cleavage of the superincumbent 
strata, or seeking the junction of formations where less re- 
sistance would be encountered. Such was the nature of the 
action which formed fissures in the parallel ranges of San 
Juan del Rio, and the veins which have been formed in these 
fissures are true fissure veins — in other words " veins of 
great linear extent and indefinite depth, filled with an aggre- 
gation of mineral matter, with metalliferous ores difiering 
in character fi'om and posterior to the walls in which they 
are encased." On the outer arc of the circle of upheaval 
fissures would also be formed, but rather from the vibration 
fi-om the great disturbance, which vibration we must sup- 
pose would disturb, shiver and crack the outer-crusts fi:om 
the surface downward, without, however, penetrating to great 
depth : or they may be first called into existence fi-om the 
settling of the disturbed upheaval, much on the same prin- 
ciple which causes cracks in clays fi-om shrinkage, or in oth- 
er words fi-om a force of tension, rather than eruption. 
Such openings are naturally superficial and irregular, and in 
volcanic ranges where lateral eraptions have occuiTed, are 
interrupted in their continuity. 

SEGREGATED MINERAL VEINS. 

A segregated mineral vein never can possess permanency, 
and no large mining enterprise based upon such a vein can 
be of a legitimate character, or prove successful. Without 
enlarging on this fiict, its correctness is proven in the very 
many stupendous mining enterprises, eventually failures, of 
Mexico and Arizona, established upon such mineral occur- 
rences, and supported by American and European capital. 
Veins of a segregated and gash origin are usually richer in 
metals near the surface than are true veins ; and our mining 
associations or their agents — who have, perhaps, never beheld 



21 

a metalliferous vein before, and cannot recognize the pre- 
cions metals unless they bear Unde Sam's stamp, and, as- 
suredly, know nothing of their ores — ^become blinded by the 
glitter of surface wealth, and ignore the fiict that such yeias 
are liable to be contracted or terminate altogether at no 
considerable depth below the surfiice, and cannot be depend- 
ed on as a source of wealth ; — else they are umerujpulomly 
sjpeculative. While a segregated mineral vein may give fair 
remuneration to two, three or four indiyiduals of the ~ bone 
and sinew " class, who have sufficient stamina to go upon 
them, and themselyes labor in remoying the ores, which be- 
ing so near the sur&ce may be advantageously done by 
pick and shovel, and extract the metals in the simple but 
slow methods of the country: to a large miniTig association 
whose members are at a distance, and must depend upon the 
industry, economy and foresight (practical knowledge) of a 
salaried agent for the success of their enterprise, they will 
ever prove most disastrous Mures. They will not warrant 
the erection of machinery upon them, or for the reduction 
of ores, the emplo}-ing of miners, and making of improve- 
ments; by which I mean the erection of such adobe huts as 
may be needed for shelter, and the payment of a superin- 
tendent, without mentioning the kid glove officials, photo- 
graphists, telegraph operators, astronomers, artists, authors 
and philosophers, whom some mining associations have 
deemed very essential to success. 

TErE VEEN'S, AXD TBEEE 3fODE OF OCCUBEEXCE. 

True fissure veins are ihe grand repositories of the pre- 
cious metals. Their fissures are regular and permanent^ 
and their ores are ever more numerous and evenly dissemi- 
nated throughout the vein matrix. This will more readily 
be appreciated by looking into the mode of occurrence of 
<^e ores of true veins. Fissures, after being formed m the 



00 



manner I have explained, naturally become channels for the 
percolation of water, which in passing through diflerent 
strata of formation^ become charged, more or less, with va- 
rious metallic and mineral compounds. This fluid while 
highly heated and under intense pressure of the immense 
superincumbent mass — for it penetrates to great depths — 
and prol)ably already holding in solution acidiferous sub- 
stances, becomes a solvent in different forms of all the ele- 
ments entering into the structure of the encasing rocks. 
Such solution, passing through an almost interminable fissure 
and coming in contact with different strata, may be so influ- 
enced by the electric chemical action thus aroused as to 
combine directly with and gather the metalliferous particles 
previously existing in the rocks, and upon passing into a 
diflerent circulation of currents, or coming in contact with 
a compound diflering in nature, slowly deposit the metallic 
substance upon the wafls of the fissure ; and the result is the 
formation of a true mineral vein in which the chemical pro- 
cess of formation and the dissemination of mineral will have 
been complete in proportion as depth below the antagonism 
of the elements is attained. Though in the Western and 
North Western portions of Sonora the greatest number of 
the veins are segregated, I could not with justice rank 
them afl as such; there are true veins apparently isolated. 
In the parallel ranges occurring in the San Juan del Rio 
property, however, are the only systems of true fissure veins 
I have seen in the countiy ; and in this fact is one of my 
pertinent reasons for preferring its lands over others. I had 
in view your desire, expressed verbally, to secure only such 
property as you could fearlessly and honestly represent as 
property of merit and permanent value. 

I have spoken of the ancient history of the San Juan 
del Rio property, and immediate vicinity. I have seen no 
locahty in all my investigations wherein are equal eviden- 



Office of the 



rs West Third St/feet, Ci/ncimnapi, O., October lO, 1866. 



Sib:— 

We invite your careful pei'usal of the Report of our Gold and Silver M/lning 
PropO'ty, in Sonora, Mexico : 

I. — This property is about 40 miles South of the United States boundary line, near wliich one of 
the great lines of the Pacific Mailroad will be completed within a few years, and before that 
time, from present indications, Northern Mexico will almost certainly become a part of the United States. 

II.— Instead of only 1,200 feet, the size of many of the best Silver Mining properties, hold at prices 
greatly exceeding the price affixed to this, we have from 20,000 to 25,000 acres, embracing many 
mines of linown value, with veins extending for miles, from 3 to 20 feet in width. Some of these 
mines have a historic or traditional value, having yielded Millions of Dollars, and are practi- 
cally inexhaustible. The same was selected in person, by two competent experienced geologists, of high 
character for honesty and ability, men of fine business qualifications and of property, who came to us 
highly recommended by some of the most responsible and influential of the business men of Pittsburgh. 
They devoted months in personal examination of that country, its mining records, etc., before selecting 
this Ranche. 

III. — Such a concentration of all the elements of mining wealth, and facilities for mining, we believe is not 
excelled elsewhere in the world; the finest timber of great extent, exhaustless water power, superior 
agricultural lands, cheap and skilled labor, rich and easily reduced ores, and good roads to market. 
Added to all this, the almost entire absence of water-power and of fuel for smelting and steam-power, 
in the rich and contiguous mining territory, will make it exceedingly profitable for us to beneficiate 
their ores. 

IV. — By our Report, it will be seen, that competent parties, who are willing to become resident managers, 
estimate that a sum much less than our proposed working capital, is ample to make our property produe- 
tive for extended iniprove'rn.ents and for monthly dividends in gold. 

v.— We propose to organize a company here of FIVE MILLIONS OP DOLLARS CAPITAL, 

and to offer for sale one-half the stock, $2,500,000, at ten per cent., producing $250,000, of which 
|.50,000 and one half of the stock, |2, 500,000, to be retained by' the present Association for the 
property, leaving $200,000 in cash in the Treasury for a working cap'ital, and thereby 
giving a present value to the stock of fully 20 per cent. 

VI.— This property, with $200,000 in the Treasury for its rapid development, can be made to yield ONE 
to TWO MJ LLJONS of Dollars within two years ; and thereafter, a gradually increasing 
amount, with the increased facilities for reducing our own and surrounding ores — which must rapidly ad- 
vance the stock to its par value in gold. 

VII. — The present owners of this property are residents of Cincinnati, and feci desirous of continuing its 
ownership, control, and dividends to this city as a permanent Institution, and to retain their stock as a 
permanent investment equal to any other stock of this country. 



23 

ces of a former extensive mining prosperity. I was pre- 
pared to see indications of old mines, but not in such sur- 
prising frequency and extent. From the river banks, 
pack-trails wind in labyrinthian folds up and down moun- 
tains, through canons and over precipitous ridges, until they 
arrive at ancient workings, where one would least think of 
searching for them. We find these old workings crumbled 
in and filled with debris, and grown over with dense thickets 
of mesquit, giving evidence of the great lapse of time du- 
ring which they have been undisturbed, and making it 
almost impossible to discern them, were it not for the debris 
banks in their vicinity. Near them are the crumbled walls 
of their reduction haciendas, immense heaps of scoria from 
their furnaces, and decayed towns. As if these were not 
sufficient for the wants of this ancient mining community, 
we find on the river banks within the space of a league, the 
ruins of four other towns seemingly of former extent, and 
other reduction works and slag heaps, all, too, grown over 
with mesquit and other trees 6 inches to 2 feet in diameter. 

TOAPATZ MINES. 

Half a league back of the ruins of Toapatz are numerous 
rubbish banks and nearly filled openings, the only existing 
evidences of a series of rich and profitably worked mines. 
So long, however, have they been abandoned, and so very 
few were the survivors of the Apache descent upon them, 
(none, it is beheved, escaped from Toapatz and neighboring 
towns,) that the names by which they were designated are 
now unknown, and tradition can give no particulars beyond 
the fiict that they were extensive and rich. I could deter- 
mine only fi-om the debris and encasing rocks, and from ap- 
pearances at the shght depth I could attain in the openings, 
that their veins were well defined, with even and striated 
walls. I examined the debris banks for specimens of the 



VIII.— For a limited time only, they will funiisli the citizens of Cincinnati the opportunity of owning and con- 
trolling probably the best mining property on this continent, at a price greatly less than its intrinsic value, 
or, that it will bring in New York. In evidence of which, we refer to our Reports, with Maps, to be ob- 
tained on application to HENRY KBSSLBR, at the Office of the Bagle Insurance Convpa/ny, 
73 West Third Street, or of any of the Shareholders, as follows : 

ENOCH T. CABSON, .TAS. D. THOMPSON, WILLIAM T. PERKINS, 

THOS. SPOONEE, HENRY KESSLEH, CHAS. C. EEAKIRT, 

EUGAR CONKLING, JACKSON SLANE, .TOHN R. WRIGHT, 

WILLIAM SUMNER, S. S. DAVIS, WILLIAM WOOD, 

THOS. J. m'cOY, JOSEPH KINSEY, R. H. COLLINS. 



'I'^'fixJf i''it;$, The members of the ©imstsaatl & 1®®,®!'® Ktmlmg A^g@®i®'lt®®» 

hereby obli"ate themselves to dispose of one-half of their San Juan del Rio Mining Ranehe, in Sonera, Mexico, 
for the sum of Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand Dollars, cash, and to appropriate Two JIundred Thou- 
sand Dollars thereof as working cajtital, provided subscribers thereto shall have paid to S. S. Davis 
& Co., Bankers, the said sum, on or about the 1st day of November, 18G6 : Now therefore, in order to pur- 
chase the same, it is proposed to form a Joint Stock Company in Cincinnati, 0., to be called the 

©iM®mw4W & ®®i®MA mill© ®@iig4i¥, 

VfTifh $5^000,000 Capital Stocky 

In 50,000 shares of $100 each, and after reserving one-half of the stock, with |50,000 cash,_to pay said Asso- 
ciation for said Ranehe, to sell the remaining half of the stock at 10 per cent., or $10 In, full payvnent for 
each share of $100, the same payable to said Bankers, so soon as the §2,500,000 of stock are subscribed 
for, on, or about the 1st of November, 1866, to be by them held in trust for payors until the organization of 
said Stock Company — whereupon |50,000 shall be paid to the original Shareholders of said Association, and 
^200,000 be subject to the order of the Directors of the said Cincinnati and, Sonora Mining Com^tany. 
So soon as said stock is all subscribed and paid for, all the Stockholders shall assemble, organize the 
Stock Company, and elect their Directors — when the said Association shall deliver to said Stock Company a 
transfer of their title to said Ranehe. 



The Undersigned hereby subscribe, and agree to tahe and pay for the number of SJiares 
opljosite their respective names, at $10 per Sliare, on the conditions proposed above: 



24 

ores, but thoy had been so carefully culled over by the 
gambucinos that I could find none. From the furnace 
scoria, and also from portions of vein matter which I secured 
from the best preserved openings, I could determine, howev- 
er, that the ores were princi[)ally argentiferous (smelting ores) 
— the resultants, in part, of the decomposition of sulphurets, 
occurring in ferruginous earths, though from certain ap- 
pearances of " azogue " ores (black and gray sulphurets) in 
debris from the most extensive workings, I should conclude 
that the zone of decomposition is not great. The veins are 
a foot to five feet in width, and show evidence of an increase 
with depth below the surface. 

SAX JUAX DEL EIO MINES. 

South West of the old town of San Juan del Rio, and in 
its vicinity, is another ancient mining section, with equal 
evidences of numerous old mines and extensive w^orkmgs, 
also unknown, except that " its mines were successfully oper- 
ated contemporary with those of the Toapatz ; and aban- 
doned with the extinction" of its people by the Apaches. 
The remarks concerning the ores, etc., of the Toapatz are 
equally applicable to these. In late years, armed parties of 
gambucinos have \isited these mines on several occasions, 
and secured considerable ores from their du-t piles, and, also, 
from the best preserved openings, which they have packed to 
Oputo upon theb backs, and there reduced by smelting ; 
in this manner securing 2 to 3^ marcs [8 dollars] to the 
arroba [25 pounds.] These ores are highly valued by the 
miners, because of the ease and simplicity of their reduc- 
tion. I formed a favorable opinion of these abandoned 
mines of Toapatz real and vicinity. 



25 

TALEXZUELLO MOUXTAIX. — MIXEEAL OCCUEEEXCES. 

The most celebrated, because the most recently worked 
and best known, of the mines occurring in the San Juan del 
Rio property, are those which occur in the Valenzuello 
mountain — so called from its principal mine. This moun- 
t iin is in the north-east corner of the property, and located 
as laid down in the chart of survey. It occurs at the foot 
of the main mountain, surrounded by others, and entirely 
encircled by arroyas [creeks,] which meet and discharge 
themselves at the south-east end, in a caiion connecting with 
the river. It has a rounded appearance, gradually tapering 
at either end, and rising to a hight of over 600 feet above 
the creek beds. In geological features, it agrees with the 
statement I have akeady given. The mountain is about a 
league long, and half a league wide, or perhaps wider, and 
it contains tha most complete system of contemporaneous 
metalliferous veins I have seen in the countr}^ They are 
eight in number, six of which have bold and regular out- 
crops, while the others show surface indications of their ex- 
istence and course. There are occurrences of the surface 
rocks which would have me form the belief that even more 
metalliferous veins than those which I have recognized, oc- 
cur in the mountain, and, with a little attention, may be dis- 
covered. The veins have a course N. 17' E., and pass di- 
agonally through the mountaiu from arroya to arroya, and 
disappear in the adjacent ranges ; thus giving to them a 
linear extent of nearly a league, in which they present bold 
outcrops, with neither fault nor uTegularity- visible. Tra- 
dition and record have preserved the names by which six 
of them were designated. They occur from east to west, in 
the order in which I give their names, viz.: YalenzueUo, 
Sau Juan, San Pati-icio, Santa Helena, San Nicholas, and 
San Filepe. The occurrence of encasing rocks, vein matrices 
and ores in the mines, and in all the veins occurring in this 



26 

mountain, is so nearly identical, that a description of one 
may, with equal correctness, apply to all. 

VALENZUELLO MINE. 

The Valenzuello is the most ancient of these mines, and, 
seemingly the most extensively worked. It was first dis- 
covered by a Mexican named Valenzuello, and worked by 
him for a period of two years : during which, from his and 
others' statements, he extracted metals which yielded him 
over two millions of dollars. In his prosperity, he erected 
a church at Oputo, which is yet standing, aod made a cus- 
tom to take his stand upon its roof, and throw handsful of 
money to the scrambling crowd below. 

Through the removal of the pillars of support by the in- 
evitable gambuciuo and the action of time, portions of the 
encasing rocks and rubbish had fallen into the openings, 
nearly filling them. I believe, however, from the linear ex- 
tent of the old workings, and the limited quantities of rub- 
bish at any single point, that work was prosecuted along the 
vein, rather than down upon it'; and, in consequence, its 
lower workings have not attained great depths, not more, 
perhaps, than 120 to 150 feet. I took advantage of the 
deepest existing excavations, to descend some 40 feet below 
the surface. The vein occurs across the cleavage of the 
plane of formation, a diorite with a heavy, blackish green cast, 
and of a compact crystalline texture, with triclinic albite, 
having a bluish opalescence, and crystals of thulite epidote. 
These encasing rocks are strongly defined, regular and 
striated ; the vein is nearly vertical, with a matrix of quartz, 
ferruginous, and comby, within the zone of decomposition, 
and below, a compact crystalline ; its thickness at the sur- 
face is six feet, which, at the lowest depth I could penetrate, 
had increased to ten feet, and was, seemingly, continuing to 
widen with depth. The original ores are the "azogue " and 



27 

"patanque" of the Mexican miners, changed to the "col- 
orados," or smelting ores, near the surface. Chloride and 
chloro-bromide (embolite) occur in the ferruginous gangue ; 
in the quartz is the black sulphuret and polybasite, accom- 
panied by blende, and a little lead. Native silver occurs in 
the comby parts of the vein, and particularly at the junction 
of the chloride and sulphuret. The ores seemed very 
thickly and evenly disseminated throughout the vein; and 
in the bottom of the excavation in which I examined, the 
sulphuret and antimonial ores, with their accompanying 
minerals, seemed to form an almost solid mass from wall 
to wall. 

SAN PATEICIO. 

The San Patricio vein outcrops very boldly ; its crest ores 
stand ten to twenty feet above the surface, and thus 
continue up the mountain sides and the summit ridge with- 
out break, interruption, or irregularity in its course. It is 
a surprisingly well defined vein. The outcrop shows vitre- 
ous stains of copper, and specks of silver glance. Excava- 
tions had been made upon the vein from the arroya where 
it intersected it. I could determine nothing of their extent, 
as they were filled in with the rubbish, washed in daring 
high water; and the greater part of the debris from the 
mine had been carried away through the same cause. On 
the extreme summit peak of the mountain — over 600 feet 
above the arroyas — and where the vein crosses, an excava- 
tion had been made, partially in the quartz gangue, and 
partly in a syenite, here overlying the diorite. I could 
not determine, correctly, the width of the vein from this 
opening, as it exposed but one of the walls, though, from 
the appearance of its outcrop, I concluded it was not less 
than 20 feet wide. All the varieties of ores which are 
found in the Yalenzuello, occur here; though the chlorides 



28 

and chloro-bromitles are found only near the janction of the 
vein m:itnx with the encasing walls, and are necessarily in 
very limited quantities. This vein has undergone very 
sUght changes through decomposition from its original form, 
and, as a result, the sulphuret ores occur at, or very near 
the surface ; and this may account for the fact that it has 
not been so extensively worked by the ancients as the Val- 
enzuello and other neighboiing ones. The ores have an in- 
creasfi in blende and galena over those of the Valenzuello, 
and occurrences of stromeyerite, (silver-copper glance) ; the 
matrix is not so heavily charged with them, and they would 
require to be assorted — though it is doing injustice to judge 
of this class of ores, which require a reasonable depth to 
complete their chemical formation and distribution, from sur- 
face specimens. 

The matrix of the San Juan shows blue and green car- 
bonates of copper, with black manganese and specks of 
silver glance in the surfice outcrop. The Santa Helena, 
San Nicholas, and San Filepe, have a number of old exca- 
vations which are now hardly discernible. They were, 
seemingly, confined to the decomposed ores, and were of 
linear extent rather than depth. This will apply also to the 
other veins whose names are unknown. Their matrices and 
distribution of ores are identical with the Valenzuello, and 
differ in a similar ratio from the San Patricio. The vertical 
extent of the ferruginous gangue and its accompanying 
chloride and chloro-bromide ores I imagine to be a medium 
between the two above described. As metalliferous veins, 
they are equally as promising and worthy of attention. The 
vein of San Juan is five feet wide, Santa Helena eight feet, 
San Nicholas five feet, and San Filepe four feet; the other 
veins are each three to six feet in thickness on the surf ice, 
and, like the Valenzuello, are liable to widen with depth. 



29 



LAS PLOMOSAS. - - 

To the west of the Valenzuello mountain, are two mines, 
which may not properly be classed with those occurring in 
its limits. I could not learn their names, except that they 
were "Minas las Plomosas" (the lead mines), nor secure 
any reliable information as to the period in which they were 
worked; though, I imagine, from their excavations, they 
were operated during both periods of activity which have 
visited this section. I will describe the principal one. The 
vein occurs in a grayish feldspathic granite, coarsely crystal- 
ine; the matrix is quartz, and the ores are an argentiferous 
galena, which, near the surface, is found changed to a car- 
bonate of lead. It averages six inches to three feet in thick- 
ness, and is otherwise weU defined. It has been extensively 
worked, though recent cavings deterred us from exploring 
its depths, which are not very considerable— I should think 
150 feet. The neighboring mine has a similar occurrence 
of encasing rocks and ores, though it has not been so exten- 
sively worked. These mines have also been resorted to in 
Jate years by gambucinos, who packed the ores to Oputo 
upon their backs, and there reduced them, securing li 
to 3 marcs of silver per arroba. They tell of finding 
masses of silver in its native state, near the surface; they 
were the resultants of decomposition— the metal having be- 
come separated, and concentrated into dendritic bunches. 
They also tell of the existence of several labors in good 
ores in the principal mine, but which they can not°now 
reach, because of recent cavings. 

In locating the San Juan del Rio property, my object 
was not only to secure the great concentration of mines aid 
metaUiferous veins which it presented in itself, and which 
alone made it superior to others, but also, to encompass 
withm Its limits the essentials of successful mining, viz.- 
timber, water-powers, agricultural lands, and road fadlities. 



80 

so that, if desired, the rich mines of the Nacosari range to 
the north and north-west miglit be ivithin its control In 
this purpose I was snccessful. 

JORIQUIPE PLACERS. 

Following the Joriquipe caiiou — which enters the Yaqui 
Kiver in the north-west corner of the San Juan del Rio 
property — for a distance of 1^- leagues west, wo enter a 
quaternary, which was formerly worked extensively for its 
placer gold. Before the abandonment of the country, and 
when the neighboring mines were being worked, several 
hundred miners gathered at these placers every season. 
The evidences of their success are visible in the many heavy 
excavations made in the diluvium, and in the ruins of a 
large mining real — Joriquipe Pueblo. These placers were 
only available during the rainy season — from June to No- 
vember. On the elevated flats, the surflice of the deposits 
are generally covered with a reddish loam, mixed with small 
gravel ; while on the bed rock, and above it, is a stratum 
containing bowlders and gravel, in which the gold is found 
in coarse flakes. It was no uncommon thing to find nuggets 
weighing from one to five ounces. These placers are exten- 
sive, and, during the rainy season, may be profitixbly 
worked. 

SAN PEDRO. 

Continuing west from Joriquipe, a distance of 3 leagues 
brings us to the San Pedro mine and real, abandoned since 
the Apache descent in 1742. The mine, which is on the 
side of a mountain, first attracted me by the immense quan- 
tities of rubbish which had been thrown from it. The an- 
cient works consist of an immense open cut, up and over the 
mountain, and continuing into other elevations, the length 
of which can not be less than a mile. This cut varies from 



31 

3 to 15 feet in width, and is open in places to a depth of 
50 feet, but with rubbish in the bottom, which would indi- 
cate that it had been deeper. Here, as elsewhere in this 
section, I found that the banks of waste had been so 
carefully culled over, that I could scarcely find a sufficient 
vestige of the ores to determine their character. The 
mountain formation is a fine grained quartziferous porphyry 
with quartz crystals and pyramidal pink crystals of ortho- 
clase. The parting from the vein is not smooth, and, in the 
portions which have been worked, masses of the quartz 
gangue of the vein yet remain attached to them. The vein 
is, however, strongly defined, and a true fissure vein. Its 
ores are argentiferous galena, containing a heavy percent- 
age of silver, and chloride in the more ferruginous and de- 
composed veinstones. Native silver accompanying the 
chloride is very frequent. Tradition and documentary evi- 
dence are eloquent in speaking of the extreme richness of 
the ores of this mine. 

One hundred yards north of the San Pedro, and in the 
same mountain, is another vein running parallel. It has 
been worked in a number of places to a considerable extent. 
The vein matrix is 3 to 5 feet thick, and the ores are simi- 
lar to those of the San Pedro. 

On the south side of the mountain is an ancient mine, 
having three openings, connected by a taho, or open cut 
upon the vein. This taho is about 150 yards in length; its 
depth was not great, but portions of the encasing walls and 
of the rubbish on its edges had fallen, and been washed into 
it. Two of the mouths or openings were closed ; the other 
was partially open, into which I descended thirty feet to 
where it had caved. The ores do not differ from the San 
Pedro varieties. The old real of San Pedro, in the imme- 
diate vicinity, had been large and substantially built, and 
the immense heaps of scoria visible show to what extent 
the ores of the neighboring mines had been worked. 



32 



HUACAL. 



Scarcely half a mile from the San Pedro, is the Huacal, 
of which tradition speaks as being a mine of nearly pure 
silver. Immense dirt heaps high up on the mountain side, 
are the first evidences we have of the existence of this mine. 
There are a series of excavations along the course of the 
vein, some to a depth of one hundred feet. What is supposed 
to be the main opening is pointed out ; it is now covered 
with debris, and tradition has it that it was designedly 
closed by the former owners when obliged to abandon it. 
However this may be, it is very evident that this mine has 
been rich, and profitably worked. The encasing walls are 
similar to the formation of the San Pedro mountain, except 
that there is an appearance of petrosilex. The vein is 
strong and well defined, almost vertical, and with an easy 
parting from the walls ; its quartz gangue is a soft, decom- 
posed crystalline, through which the ores are thickly and 
evenly disseminated. Its ores are argentiferous, accom- 
panied by native silver. In the rubbish from the openings 
I found antimonial sulphuret of lead and silver (frieslebe- 
nite) and black sulphuret occurrences, which would have 
me believe that in the deeper workings these ores were 
making their appearance. The width of the vein is about 
five feet. The ruins of the ancient real of Huacal, with the 
ever accompanying scoria piles, are at the foot of Hie 
mountain. 

EL EOSARIO. 

Yet a mile further west, and situated high up on the 
southern face of a lofty mountain, is the Ei Rosario mine, 
which has been very extensively worked. An open cut 
follows the vein a distance of several hundred yards; there 
are several nearly vertical openings, the principal one of 
which may be descended to a depth of 200 feet. It is ap- 



33 

parent that at this depth excavations have been made a 
Considerable distance in the vein, though cavings have 
occurred which will not permit them to be explored. The 
encasing formation is a compact gray porphyry, containing 
triclinic mica and quartz crystals. The vein is exceedingly 
well defined and is nearly vertical. The predominating ore 
is a chloro-bromide, accompanied with argentiferous galena 
and blende, the latter barely distinguishable. The vein has 
been worked to a width of 6 to 10 feet, and it is evident 
that in its workings a superior system of mining to that 
which has generally been followed in this country was adopt- 
ed. It would appear that this mine has been one of superior 
merit. 

On the northern face of the mountain are several 
workings, all of extent. One of these is supposed to be a 

continuation of the Rosario ; the others — two in number 

occur on veins; one three and the other five feet wide. 
Their formations and ores are identical with those of the 
Rosario. 

DON EDUAHDO. 

South-west of the San Pedro but a short distance is the 
Don Eduardo, which has seemingly been little worked. A 
shaft sunk on the vein outcrop on the side of a ravine had 
partially caved, leaving the opening about 20 feet in depth. 
The rubbish from the excavation contained a few samples 
of the ore, which I found to be a bromyerite (bromic silver), 
accompanied by small crystals of a beautiful azurite (a blue 
carbonate of copper, differing from malachite in containing 
a hydrated oxide in conjunction with the carbonate), occur- 
ring in a matrix of sihcious clay and comby barytes. 1 think 
if put to a careful test the gangue will be found to contain 
small particles of both silver and copper, in their native 
state. The vein is well defined, occurring in a feldspathic 
(3) 



34 

granite, with triclinic amphodelite of a dingy red, and pris- 
matic mica. It can be traced by its outcrop a distance of 
a mile or more. It is evident that its class of ores were 
not understood by the native miners. 

CHERUNIVAVA. 

In the midst of mines whose riches occasioned astonish- 
ment, the Cherunivava was the mine par excellence of the 
Jesuits. It occurs about three leagues north-west of 8an 
Juan del Rio, and the amount of work done upon it is cer- 
tainly immense. The vein ores average six feet in width, 
though in many places they have been worked to a width 
of twenty feet. It is now impossible to determine the depth 
of the openings, as the walls of the extensive open cut fol- 
lowing the vein along the mountain side have in many places 
caved, covering the deeper openings. Even where such 
caves have occurred, however, the cut remains open one 
hundred feet in depth. Though I here again made diligent 
search in the waste banks, I could find no pieces of the ore, 
so carefully had they been gathered ; and I could only form 
conclusions from what was exposed in the bottom of the 
taho. The wall formations are a diorite, the quartz gangue 
is an opaque white variety, and the accompanying ores are 
the chloro-bromide, with native silver and gold — very rich. 
The vein can be traced into the ravine and the adjoining 
elevation. Indications of the walls which once surrounded 
what are supposed to have been the main openings into the 
mine, and also of the ore houses and quarters of the guard 
placed over them, are yet visible. 

On the northern end of the hill is a taho quite as exten- 
sive as the one already described, but in as dilapidated a 
condition. It is upon a parallel vein, and in appearance 
and character is similar to the main mine. 



35 

PINAL. 



The Pinal, between San Juan del Rio and Cherunivava, 
and two leagues from the former place, occurs— as do all 
mmes m Mexico— on a mountain side. The course of its 
vein IS north-west and south-east; it has four openings, the 
deepest of which is now 130 feet, though the inevitable 
cavmg has here again taken place. The encasing forma- 
tion IS similar to that of the Cherunivava, with a well de- 
fined and strong vein six feet wide. I had the usual success 
in my search for specimens of the ores, though I deter- 
mined they were the chloro-bromide and argentiferous ^a- 
lena, with native gold and sUver; the ores contain a heavy 
percentage of gold, which is seemingly the predominating 
metal of the mine. ° 



GAEEIQON. 



_ Half a league nearly due west of the Pinal are the Gar- 
rigon mines, a number of excavations of extentroccurrine 
on nearly parallel veins. The principal workings are in the 
form of open cuts upon the veius, with an ooeasional verti- 
cal opening following the metals down. These mines have 
sufiered severely through the depredations of time, and but 
httle can be determined concerning them beyond that which 
we can see in their present existing workings. The veins 
are three to sixfeet in width, and are regular and strongly 
deaned, and their ores are similar in character to those oc 
curnng in the Cherunivaya. The invariable accompani- 
ment^a rmned mining real and banks of scoria from the 
once existing reduction furnaces-are here; and in their- 
existence is ever presented a reliable evidence of the former 
richness and prosperity of theii- mines. 



TAIIO AND SAX NICHOLAS. 

Continuing west, a distance of two leagues from the Gar- 
rigon mines, lirings us to the equally ancient mines of Taho 
and San Nicholas. The first named is, as its name implies, 
a mountain cut, though I was not prepared, even by the 
very full traditional particulars concerning this mine which 
I had listened to, to witness such an astonishing, and, T may 
say, stupendous mining work. Did we not know from the 
heaps of rubbish everywhere in the vicinity, that this was 
the work of man, we would conclude that n iture had cleft 
the mountain in twain, forming a huge rent 500 feet deep 
from the summit ridge, and extending nearly 400 yards in 
length and entirely through the mountain. There are no 
means of determining how far below this cut the ancient 
workings extended, for here also the walls have in places 
caved, fdliog the bottom of the cut with debris. 

The San Nicholas is perhaps a league distant, and was al- 
most as extensivel}^ worked by open cut, the outcrop of the 
vein occuriing high up on the mountain side ; it is in^a more 
dilapidated condition, and it was with great diCGculty that 1 
could determine the occurrence of its ores to agree in many 
particulars with those of the Taho. The veins have a course 
nearly east and west, occurring in a feldspathic porphyry, 
fine grained, and with peroxide of iron visible. The vvidth 
of the veins is five to eight feet, though in some places they 
occur ten feet wide. They are strongly defined, with quartz 
gangues containing chloride and chloro-bromide ores, ac- 
companied by native silver, and, in places, argentiferous 
galena, having only a trace of blende. In the San Nicholas 
is a considerable percentage of gold, and there are evidences 
that the workings have extended to the black and gray sul- 
phuret ores. I found traces of antimoiiial sulphuret of 
lead and silver. At the ancient real of San Nicholas are 
the ruins of fifteen arrastres, which would indicate that 



37 

when abandoned the more complex ores were being produced 
from the mine. 

CINCO SOXORES. 

About two leagues from the San Pedro is the Cinco So- 
nores mine, occurring on the eastern face of the Nacosari 
mountain, and 700 feet above its base. The vein has 
a course almost north and south. It was first opened upon 
by the ancients for its chloride ores, and the original ores 
were thus exposed within a few feet of the surface. They 
are the most surprising deposit of ores of the kind, because 
the most extensive I have ever seen. Where stripped of 
the chloride, they show a compact metalliferous mass, 38 
feet in width and 400 feet in length. The ores are princi- 
pally the gray copper (fahlerz) and red oxide of copper, 
accompanied by chlorides, occurring near the encasing walls 
to a thickness of six inches to twelve inches, and zinc 
blende in considerable quantities. Yellow sulphuret of cop- 
per occj^rs in conjunction with the red oxide, and the fah- 
lerz is particularly notable for the heavy proportion of silver 
which it carries. This occurrence of ores must undero;o a 
change in greater depth, either altogether taking the form 
of a tetrahedrite, or a yellow sulphuret, of which red oxide 
is the decomposed resultant. The red oxide now predomi- 
nates, and this would have me believe that yellow sulphuret 
of copper will prdve the vein ore, though the proportional 
relations of the present existing ores may at any point have 
a change, and the lahlerz become the predominating ore. 

DON JUAX AND LA PLOMOSA. 

The Don Juan mine, to the south, is a continuation of 
this vein, and was also anciently worked for its chloride 
©res. It presents a similar appearance to the Cinco So- 
nores, the only difference being that its ores contain a heav- 



88 

ier proportion of iron and zinc. The encasing walls of this 
vein are a highly quartziferous porphyry. 

Four leagues from San Juan del Rio, in a course a little 
south of west, is the mine known as La Plomosa, occurring 
in a conical mountiiin. A number of openings occur on the 
south side of the mountain, and upon the opposite side are 
others, and from the occurrence of their ores and encasing 
formations I have to conclude that they are upon one vein. 
This mine was a frequent resort of the miners from Cumpas, 
who packed the ores away upon then- backs, until, through 
the death of some of their number by Apaches, the hazard- 
ous venture was abandoned. The mine opening penetrates 
to a depth of 150 feet below the surface, though a portion 
of it is now filled with rubbish. I am informed by those 
who visited it when its openings were in repair, that exten- 
sive excavations were made in the vein upon either side. 
The ores are argentiferous galena, and have yielded those 
who worked thei!n two to three marcs per quintal (of 100 
pounds), besides a valuable grata for the more com^/licated 
ores. The vein of ores is in some places but six inches 
wide, in others three feet ; its average width is not over a 
foot, though it is well defined. 

I have only mentioned above those ancient mines whose 
traditional histories were so complete that I could readily 
recognize them. In the San Juan del Rio property and 
its neighborhood, however, are many isolated mines of which 
we have no information beyond that supphed by their own 
dilapidated excavations — in some cases almost indistinguish- 
able — rubbish banks and scoria piles. These mines present 
every indication of former prosperity and present merit, 
though I have refrained from particularly describing each. 
The country is also checkered with surface appearances of 
mineral veins yet undisturbed, though carrying the metallif- 
erous particles even in their outcrops, and showing as favor- 



39 

able surface indications of mineral wealth as did those 
which have proven so productive through development. 

ADVANTAGES FOR OPERATING. 

The mines which I have above described are all eminently 
well situated for extensive development and economical 
working. Steam power for hoisting and pumping is super- 
fluous. I have remarked that the veins occurring in the 
Yalenzuello mountain appear in the arroyas on either sid.e, 
and by running a tunnel upon any of them it would develop 
them at a depth of 600 feet below their summit outcrop, 
or, which I believe would be preferable, a tunnel run into the 
mountain from its south-west terminus would cut the Valen- 
zuello vein in a distance of 150 feet, and, in succession, all 
the others 300 to 600 feet below the summit outcrop. The 
three veins of the San Pedro mines may be cut far below 
their old workings by a tunnel 200 to 300 feet in length. 
The Rosario could thus be opened, by a tunnel following the 
vein, 200 feet below the old workings; the Huacal 350 feet 
below its mouth ; the Cherunivava and Pinal by following 
their veins, perhaps 200 feet ; the San Nicholas and Taho 
a considerable distance below the supposed terminus of their 
old workings, and the Cinco Sonores 400 feet below its out- 
crop. And so, I believe, without exception, with the other 
mines and mineral veins occurring in the property and vi- 
cinity. 

SULPHUEET ORES. 

From the fact that in the heaps of slag which we find at 
every mining real we have the evidences of the mode adopt- 
ed by the ancients in subduing their ores, and from the na- 
ture of the mine openings, it would seem clear that they had 
contented themselves with removing only the superior grades 
of the decomposed ores — those which had undergone a 



40 

chemical change through action of the atmosphere , looking 
unfavorably upon the more complicated ores occurring below 
the zone of decomposition, either through ignorance of the 
process for the extraction of their silver, or — what seems 
more reasonable — from the impossibility of securing the 
quicksilver necessaiy. We learn that about the time of the 
operation of these mines quicksilver rose so high in price 
($150 to $170 per hundred pounds) as to virtually place an 
embai-go upon its use. In future operations the grand 
source of wealth must necessarily be the more complicated 
because less altered ores (which, however, in the advances 
made in metallui-gy, have, to us, lost their complications) ; 
fi"om which will be released riches at least equal to those 
taken by the Mexicans from the chloridized ores of the sur- 
face ; though it may be supposed that even in the older and 
more extended worldngs, but particularly in the veins which 
have yet been comparatively undisturbed, there are quanti- 
ties of the simpler ores which may be cheaply and profitably 
worked. 

An important element of value in these mines is their abun- 
dant ores, which, when it occurs (as in the Valenzuello 
mines), more than commensurates for medium lays, on the 
principle that many tons of $1 00-ore will prove more profitable 
than a single ton of that which may yield $200 to $300. A 
mine with a hmited supply of ores can never prove profita- 
ble to a foreign company. The supply here will be limited 
only by the working capacities for its treatment. The San 
Pati'icio would alone be capable of furnishing employment 
to a 100-stamp mill. 

AVATEE POWERS. 

The w'ater powers comprised in the San Juan del Ilio 
property are superior to any others I have seen in Sonora, 
and the only ones iu Northern Sonora which may be made 



41 

available in mining enterprises. A water power of sufficient 
volume is one of the elements necessary to success in mining 
enterprises in Sonora. Where steam power and its neces- 
sarily compHcated connections must be called into play, 
with its attendant expense, I do not hesitate to say that 
the enterprise runs nine chances of failure to every one of 
success. And I am borne out in this statement by the 
widely known career of many affairs here and in Arizona. 
Complicated machinery is ever liable to get out of repair, to 
breakage and other mishaps, which, in a country where the 
machine shop and foundry is next door, causes only a mo- 
mentary delay ; but here, when even the slightest repair is 
called for, it cannot be made short of San Francisco, and 
causes a suspension of two, three or foar months in opera- 
tions ; and this alone is ruinous. And, again, the expense of 
getting complicated machinery into the country, (for it must 
be cast in segments and packed on mules,) the risk of having 
it broken or portions stolen or lost in the transportation, the 
need of a practical engineer to attend solely to it, at a heavy 
salary, and the many other attendant expenses and draw- 
backs known only to those who have tried the experiment, 
all will be likely in the end to prove disastrous. The only, 
safe rule of procedure is to use the smallest possible amount 
of machinery, and have that so simplified in its nature that 
it may ever be repaired at the mining hacienda, and require 
only the care of an attentive work-hand. These results, in 
so far as they relate to a motive power, can only be attained 
through the application of water power. 

The river Yaqui is the largest stream in Sonora, and per- 
haps the only one which may be deservedly termed a river. 
It takes its rise in the mountains near the Arizona bound- 
ary, and flows in a southerly course through the San Juan 
del Rio property. It here contains more water than at 
Oputo or further south, until it reaches Buena Vista, where 



42 

it again becomes a strong and rapid stream. During the 
rainy season it forms a very considerable stream. At the 
time of our last visit to the property we saw it after months 
of drouth and when at its very lowest stage, when it formed 
a rapid running stream of forty feet wide and three feet 
deep. In its course through the property it falls rapidly, 
often passing over little falls, and is enclosed in banks or 
the valley hmd^. At any point a water power with sufficient 
head and lall to drive the most extensive machinery may be 
secured, by damming the stream and carrying the water in 
a ditch over the bottom lands, or in a flume along the foot 
of the hills, to any desired locality. Four or five, or even 
more, of such water powers could thus be secured. There 
is one principal site with very superior advantages. The 
northern boundary of the lands was located with a view to 
controlling the entire waters of the stream. At it, the 
mountains come close up to the river, forming a narrow and 
precipitous caiion several hundred feet in depth, through 
which the waters of the stream take their way. By placing 
a dam at the lower terminus of this canon, where the chan- 
nel is most contracted, bolting it to the cliffs on either side, 
and to the bottom, a compact cement or concrete impervious 
to T\ ater, a faU of any needed extent may be secured ; and, 
if properly erected, there need not be the shghtest danger 
of the dam being carried away. On either bank of the 
river are numerous flivorable sites for the erection of bene- 
ficiating works and mining haciendas. 

Besides the waters of the river the lands are plentifully 
supplied with smaller streams and springs. The water oc- 
curring immediately at the ValenzueUo mine is impregnated 
with mineral, though it is not unwholesome; in its imme- 
diate vicinity is a mountain spring of very excellent water. 
The stream of Ileurigo caiion is crystal clear and cold, al- 
most ice cold. 



43 

TIMBEE. 

A valuable element in mining enterprises, and one which 
the western and southern districts of Sonora are very de- 
ficient in, is timber of such quantity and quality as may be 
desired for building purposes and fuel. The timber and 
lumber used in the erection of the beneficiating and other 
mining works of most of the American enterprises in Sonora 
and Southern Arizona, have been necessarily brought from 
San Francisco, and conveyed to the mines at heavy expense. 
I have avoided a need for this, in securing within the San 
Juan del Rio property all of the heurigo timber tract, un- 
doubtedly the most noted and valuable in the State. It is 
in a valley near the southern terminus of the property and 
west of the river, and, except to the north, is surrounded by 
steep mountain ranges. This tract covers an extent of 
1,000 or more acres, all of which is thickly studded over 
with a growth of magnificent trees, three to eight feet in 
diameter, and gradually tapering in their upward course, 
until they attain a height of 80 to 120 feet, without per- 
ceptible crook or twist. This timber is a species that I have 
seen in no other part of Mexico, and in fact, nowhere out 
of Northern Sonora ; and though in some of the surrounding 
canons are a few trees of it, this is the only tract of extent I 
know or have been informed of It has some resemblance 
to bay mahogany, but is of a finer grain and susceptible of 
a beautiful polish ; it is light, pliable, and indestructible as 
the best varieties of cedar. In late years it has been eagerly 
sought after for the manufacture of doors, window frames 
and sashes, the better grades of furniture, and the orna- 
mentation of churches and the private residences of the 
wealthier classes, and for these purposes has been conveyed 
to the extreme southern precincts of the State. No stronger 
evidence of its value and adaptability to the many uses of 
timbers need we hdve, than the means adopted in getting it 



44 

to the southern towns ; it being necessary to drag the logs, 
cut to a length of eight to ten feet, and attached to oxen, 
over the steep mountain trails of the country. I consider 
this an exceedingly valuable timber for all purposes in which 
timber and lumber may be required ; it is eminently suited 
for the frameworks of large structures, for the beds of ma- 
chinery and stnmp batteries, for the building of dams, and 
any use which may require heavy and indestructible timber, 
and it will make a superior class of lumber. In the present 
condition of the mountain trails, it presents some difficulties 
in ti'ansporting it from the valley in which it occurs to de- 
sired localities ; these difficulties are not, however, of a seri- 
ous nature. Durino- manv mouths in the vear, the stream 
finding its w^ay through the very precipitous heurigo canon 
contains a large volume of water; and by the expenditure of 
a small sum in removing drift fi'om its channel, the logs, 
cut to any required length, may be floated down to the river 
and secured, from whence they may be conveyed with ease 
to the desired points. Or a Magon road may be made, with 
small outlay, from the timber to Joriquipe caiion (from 
where there is a good wagon road to the river), there being 
but a single bight to ascend, after which the road follows a 
gradually descending plateau. 

The lands are abundantly supplied with other timbers. 
On the river margins, cottonwood, ash, willow, walnut, and 
sycamore of good size and quality abound. On the bottom 
lands — the lands formerly cultivated — is a dense forest of 
mesquit, so thickly matted that we wei-e, in places, obliged 
to cut paths through it. I was surprised to find many of 
these trees three feet in diameter, as, in other localities, 
they seldom attain a diameter of more than six or eight 
inches ; and with one exception, this was the most extensive 
forest of these trees I had seen. In the tributary caiions, 
and on the hillsides they also occur in numbers, but smaller. 



45 

This mesquit timber can not be too highly appreciated as a 
fuel; it burns long and fiercely, and give an intense heat 
It is particularly valuable for charcoal, which I pronounce 
a superior article. On the hills are several varieties of oak ; 
and on the higher mountain peaks, two or three leagues 
distant, are heavy forests of pine. 

AEABLE LANDS, AND AGEICULTUEAL PEODUCTS. 

At the southern boundary of the lands, as at the northern, 
the mountains come up to the river ; thus enclosing the bot- 
tom lands which stretch between them, and extend out on 
either side of the river, forming a valley of good extent. I 
have spoken of the indications which here abound of the 
former cultivation and productiveness of these lands. This 
river bottom contains 4500 to 5000 acres of the finest 
agricultural lands, all of which are so favorably situated, 
that they may be abundantly irrigated from the river with 
scarcely an efibrt, and placed under the highest cultivation. 
And, in this region, favored with every needed element to 
success, it is impossible to estimate the variety and value of 
the crops it is capable of producing; we find, here, the 
most valued products of the temperate zone, with the most 
needed of those of the tropics. Two crops are raised from 
off the same land in the year, and their yield is so abun- 
dant, as to occasion astonishment to those who are unic- 
quainted with the productive nature of these soils. The 
rainy season sets in early in June, and continues to October, 
though occasional showers fall until March, Corn, and 
other products which require rains to bring them to matur- 
ity, are planted in June ; and in the latter part of November, 
or in December, wheat and other hardy products follow; 
though where, as on these lands, irrigation may be resorted 
to, the crops, however planted, are ever sure. The wheat 
of Sonora is very superior in quality ; its yield is one hun- 



46 

dred to two hundred bushels to one bushel sown, and it is 
not uncommon to get two hundred and fifty to one. Corn 
yields large crops ; the native variety is a white flint, and 
may be advantageously replaced with our American Yellow, 
and other varieties. Peas ever produce three abundant 
crops in the year. Beans are the favorite food of the 
people, and, as they grace alike the table of rich and poor, 
surprising quantities are consumed. I saw neither rice nor 
barley, though both may be successfully cultivated. These 
lands are eminently adapted to the cultivation of sugar cane, 
cotton and tobacco, which are raised in the nearest settle- 
ments with excellent results. From the sugar cane, a coarse 
kind of sugar, called panochc, is made by the natives ; it is 
a favorite article of consumption, and finds ready sale at 
$25 to %iO the carga of 300 pounds, which leaves a hand- 
some profit to the cultivator. Cotton is one of the most 
profitable products of the soil, and is becoming extensively 
cultivated. The staple is shorter than our cottons, though 
of good quality ; it is manufactured by the native women 
into articles of wearing apparel. Tobacco also yields well : 
it is a profitable crop, and is becoming extensively cultivated. 
Besides these, Chile pepper — a capsicum of great pungency, 
and one of the necessaries of life with the natives — onions, 
garlic, melons, and sweet potatoes are produced, and our 
common potato and veget ibles may be successfully intro- 
duced. Fruits of excellent quality could be grown, especi- 
ally sweet and sour oranges, figs, quinces, and peaches; and 
the grape could not fail to be a decided success. Besides 
the valley lands on the river, are those of the heurigo val- 
ley comprised in the timber tract already spoken of; they 
are exceedingly fertile, and may be irrigated from the creek 
which courses through them. Back from the river are sev- 
eral plateaus of rich soils, containing in all, perhaps, 500 
acres, which, while they are too elevated to admit of irriga- 



47 

tion, would produce abundant crops of corn in the rainy- 
Season. 

The only farming implements of the country are a pointed 
stick — serving for a plough — a hoe, and a sickle ; and where 
such grand results are attained with these, what would not 
be the results of the introduction of our improved agricul- 
tural implements, and the application of farming knowledge ? 

PASTURE LANDS. 

The pasturage, though not so abundant as is found to the 
north-west, is yet very superior. The higher lands, unfit for 
agricultural uses, but covered with a growth of nutritious 
grasses, are adapted to cattle and sheep ranges. There are 
three varieties of grasses upon the lands — the mesquit 
grass, confined to the ranges of the mesquit timber j the 
sacatom, a coarse species found on the higher ranges ; and 
the grama [crondosiuml occupying the plateaus and less 
elevated hills. The latter variety has much the appearance 
of dry, curled whittlings of pine wood, is very nutritious, 
and was greedily eaten by our animals. Throughout the 
entire year the cattle graze upon the hills, there being no 
need to preserve the grasses. Northern Sonora is, without 
dispute, pre-eminent as a stock raising country. 

EOADS. 

The roads are principally the simple pack trails of the 
country. From Guaymas, the port of entry, a good wagon 
road passes by way of Hermosillo to Ures, and thence up 
the Sonora river to Arispe, twenty leagues from your prop- 
erty, which, distance is traversed by a good pack trail. A 
very excellent wagon road from Guaymas, passes through 
San Marcial and Matape, and with very small outla}^, may 
be opened almost to San Pedro, by way of Oposura and 
Cumpas. From San Pedro a pack trail crosses the moun- 



48 

tain range to Joriquipe Pueblo, a distance of three leagues, 
irom whence a natural wagon road continues to the property. 
I think, however, that packing ma}^ be altogether avoided, 
and a wagon road found to connict San Pedro and Joriquipe, 
by using a mountain pass a little farther north, which, it is 
said, was used by the Jesuits for this purpose. A road 
could be opened, though at considerable expense, from Opo- 
sura to Granadas, on the Yaqui river, from whence a good 
road continues north to the property. A road could also 
be opened from the mouth of the Yaqui river; though the 
preferable route of all, because the shortest and least expen- 
sive, is that by way of Oposura, Cumpas and San Pedro. 
In the meantime, the pack trails connecting the property 
•with the lower towns could be materially improved by the 
expenditure of a few hundred dollars. A wiigon road for 
the transportation of ores from the Yalenzuello mines to any 
desired point on the river, may be made ; also one from the 
heurigo timber tract to the river, as I have already re- 
marked. The natural wagon road up Joriquipe creek may, 
I think, be connected with the Cherunivava and Pinal mines; 
and, if continued through the pass mentioned above, 
with the other mines spoken of in this report. The pack 
trains and wagons conveying bullion, agricultural and man- 
ufactured products, etc., to Guaymas and the southern towns, 
would return laden with salt, quicksilver, and other needed 
supplies. 

LABOK. 

The substitution, in toto, of white labor for peon, W'Ould 
not, during the existing rates of compensiition, be advisable. 
The Mexican labor, though, under the most favorable aus- 
pices, of no very high standard, may, when properly super- 
intended, be used advantageously, though, to render it con- 
trollable, the system of peonage must be continued. 



49 

More, however, depends upon proper management in this 
matter than, perhaps, in any other connected with opera- 
tions in this country. The Opato Indian labor is prefera- 
ble to Mexican, being more pliable. These Oputo people are 
docile and intelligent, have wonderful powers of endurance, 
and make good miners and laborers; and withal, they man- 
ifest a strong feeling of friendship for the whites, in which, 
they are diametrically opposed to the Mexican, who, on 
every safe occasion, shows treachery and deceit. Strictly 
speaking, the Oputos form the producing populition of 
Northern Sonora. The price of labor is governed here, as 
elsewhere, by the demand ; th^ pay of miners and laborers 
rarely exceeds fifty cents per day. 

SUB-DIYISIOIS^ AXD COLOXY. 

The lands of San Juan del Rio may be advantageously 
sub-divided into several or more tracts, each having water- 
power, arable lands, timber, pasturage, road facilities, mine?, 
mineral Veins, etc., to make it, in evt^ry sense, independent 
of the others. 

They are also eminently adapted for a colony or colonies, 
having every needed element within their boundaries to sup- 
port and give employment to a considerable population. In 
consequence of the abundance of water-power, fuel, and 
arable lands, it is a favorable site for manufacturing estab- 
lishments, cotton, flour, saw, and sugar mills, e^c. The 
manufacture of cotton goods and woolen fabrics could not 
fail to be a success, as in the siorthern towns such goodS' — 
of which a supply is never to be had — find rapid sale at 
100 to 300 per cent, over the ruling prices in Guaymas 
and liermosillo, which, in their turn, are 50 to 100 per cent, 
higher than their cost to the merchants. And the same 
rule applies to all manufactured articles. 

The climate of this portion of Sonora is truly delightfld, 



50 

the thermometer seldom rising above 80° or Ming below 
50' ; and its healthfulness, serenity, nnd equalibility, surpass 
those of any other ppot 1 Eave ever visited. 

APACHE AND CIVIL AVAR FEARS. 

The success of myself and assistant in traveling, with but 
two servanl^s — whom we were obliged to watch — through 
almost every portion of the Apache country, and in carry- 
ing our investigations into sections which- have not before 
been visited for half a century, or more, is, I think, an am- 
ple proof that the Apaches will not be a serious obstacle to 
an extensive mining establishment on the San Juan del Rio 
property. I would not wish to infer that there are no dan- 
gers, or that it would be advis ible to adopt a course of 
action which we were forced, through circumstances, to fol- 
low; that would be extremely hazardous, and the result al- 
most positively fatal. It is true, however, that nearly every 
disaster that has occured throug'i Apaches, may be traced 
to recldessness or a criminal neglect to adopt such precau- 
tionary measures as common sense would' dictate. The 
principal dangers are those which are encountered in trav- 
eling from point to point ; and even these may, in a degree, 
be avoided by caution. An active mining est blishment, 
when taking common precautions against surprise, incurs no 
danger from even the strongest party of Apaches ; it is only 
when vigilance is relaxed, and there is supposed to be no 
d mger, that it really occurs. The cunning strategy, and 
even courage of the Apache^mnst not be despised; and on 
the other hand, he must not be feared. When met with 
his own safeguard — which is an ever active watchfulness — 
he is conquered. 

No interference from the contesting parties in Sbnora, Lib- 
eral and Imperial, need be apjirehended, while your repre- 
sentatives strictly confine themselves to their duties, and do 



51 

not interfere with the social and political institutions of the 
country. The only annoyance you may be subjected to, 
are vacillation and delay in business matters, and petty 
tyrannies in passing through their army lines ; and patience 
and civility, marked by firmness, will, in a majority of cases, 
overcome these. A show of strength, and determination 
to deal severely with offenders, will be sujQBcient to check 
marauding parties. 

ORE SAMPLES. 

I was subjected to one of the annoyances above named, 
in not being permitted to take with me, through the army 
lines, specimens of the ores of the mines I have above des- 
cribed. On my first visits to them, I carelessly gathered a 
few specimens of ores from the debris banks of several of 
them, without reference to their merit, as sample specimens, 
and carried them to Guaymas, expecting, however, on my 
return, to collect ample specimens from all the mines. This 
I was deterred from doing through the above prohibition. 

GEXERAL COXCLUSIOX. 

In describing the ancient mines of the San Juan del Rio 
property and its vicinity, I hive confined myself strictly to 
the results of my own investigations, which were conducted 
without listening either to suggestions or explanations from 
any one. It is now but simple jubtice to remark that these 
mines have a fame, through tradition, and from the state- 
ments of the best people in the country, for former extent 
and richness, which is scarcely equalled, assuredly not sur- 
passed by any in Mexico. When it is remembered that a 
great part of these mines have not been worked for over 
120 years, that all have been abandoned for 6-0 years, and 
that but few who were acquainted with them were survivors 
of their activity, it might readily be supposed that however 



52 

great their fame, it would, long since, have been forgotten. 
This is not so. In the most distant part of the State their 
worth is remembered, and the most respected citizens tes- 
tify to their superior richness, in terms of the most un(|uali- 
fied praise. And — a fact by no means frequent in Mexico — 
the statements of all whom I have heard speak of these 
ancient mines, are strongly corroborative, which would in- 
dicate that the information from which they speak, is drawn 
from a rehable source I would, perhaps, place but little 
credence in the traditions of the extent of these mines and 
richness of their ores, or in any of them, were not their 
truthfulness in many instances est :blished through my own 
investigations. In fact, these traditions, and the statements 
I have he.ird, display a wonderfully correct knowledge of 
the extent of the workings, richness, and nature of the ores, 
and other minutia; and if so correct in these, are they not 
likely to be equally so in the matter of their former yield ? 
And I simply agree with them, without desiring to do so, 
when I remark that the results of my investigations into 
these mines, have impressed me with the belief that they 
are exceedingly valuable, have every required facility con- 
nected with them for extensive and successliil operation, and, 
if placed under proper management, can not prove other- 
wise than profitable. 

I consider any single mine of those I have named, suf- 
ficiently extensive and meritorious in itself to warrant the 
careful and sole attention of a mining association. 

I was disappointed in not finding among the archives of 
the State, the government reports of the condition and yield 
of these San Juan del Rio mines during their operation. 
Before their removal from Arispe, the former State Capital 
these returns, and indeed a great part of the documents, 
were pilfered or destroyed, it is supposed, during one of the 
many internal strifes. Several worthy gentlemen who saw 



53 

the returns, inform me, however, that the yields, as repre- 
sented, were immense — too large, perhaps, to bring credence 
with them at this late day. 

I present, herewith, certificates from a number of respon- 
sible gentlemen, and some documentary extracts. 

Very Respectfully, 

CUMMINGS CHERRY, 

Geologist, and Mining Engineer. 

Jaimes Cherry, Assistant Geologist. 
Pittsburgh, Penn., August 13, 1866. 



[translation.J 

MocTEZUMA, May 12th, 1866. 
Having stated voluntarily to the Senor Cherry my belief that the 
lands of San Juan del Rio were very important lands, I give in this 
such positive and admitted truths as are known. They are situated 
on the margins of the Yaqui river, and present a beautiful valley, 
with lands of a superior quality, and well adapted for agriculture. 
In the main valley are extensive timber tracts, of the classes follow- 
ing, viz : Mesquit, in great abundance ; grand groves of the timber 
known by the name of Heurigo, and extents of other woods and 
shrubberies, of large growth and valuable, which stretch from the 
river to the highest sierras. They have excellent waters, abundant 
pastures of the best varieties, to the loftiest points, and their soils 
are very superior. Respecting the minerals, they are the most 
abundant of any I know. The principal ones are those of the sierra 
known as " Valenzuello." The sierra immediately to the north east 
of it has not been explored, but, according to the information \»e 
have of it from the ancients, it contains many rich minerals. All 
of. the Lights on either side of the river have numerous and exten- 



54 

sive mines, excavations and openings upon them, which were made 
by the old inhabitants. 

With respect to the ranche of Nacosari, which is the most imme- 
diate to this pueblo, it is situated in a caiion well supplied with 
water. This caiion presents bottom lands suitable for agriculture, 
and very excellent. On either side of the canon are extensive pas- 
tures of very superior quality ; the lands are spacious and very 
beautiful. A sierra to the east of the caiion has large tracts of pines, 
and the lower lands also possess good timber tracts, and in great 
abundance, such as fresno (ash), alizo (alder), alamo (poplar) and, 
in various parts, heurigos. In respect to the minerals, they are 
abundant. To the east and north-east is the mineral (district) of 
San Pedro, the mine of the Rosario, and many others whose names 
are not now known ; to the west is the grand mine of Cinco Sonores, 
the mine of San Juan, and others whose names are not known; to 
the north, and in the neighborhood of the ranche, is the real of 
Cherunivava. 

All these mines and the ranches have been abandoned for so many 
years that they have ceased to have owners, and the houses which 
were on the ranches have crumbled into ruins. 

These ranches (San Juan del Rio and Nacosari) are the most val- 
uable we have in the District. Such is my belief and the voice of 
the people in general. 

[Signed] AUG. Ma. MOXGE. 

Note. — Notwithstanding I, the priest and Cura of this parish of 
Moctezuma and its surrounding pueblos, have aflSrmed to the above 
without having personally seen the lands, yet the above declarations 
are the unanimous belief and expression of the people. To which 
I affirm. [Private Seal op Cura 

of Moctfzuma District.^ 

And we certify that the above statements and descriptions are 
truthful and correct, and annex our signatures. 

RICARDO REVERE, [Alcalde of Cuvijyas.'] 
JESUS DURAZO, [Judge of Moctezuma District.'] 

ANTOiNIO TIMBRES,") 

ROMAN PERALTA, f- Former Liberal Officials. 

JOHN EGLESTON, J 

I, Commissioner Municipal, certify to the truthfulness of the 
statements in the above letter. ANTONIO HO YES. 



55 

Antonio Teban y Bareios, ^ul-Prefector and Military Com- 
mandant of the District of Hei-mosillo. 

I certify in truth and power of my office that the declarations in 
the above letter of the Senor Cura Monqe and other subscribers are 
very positive and correct in all their statements relative to the men- 
tioned lands of San Juan del Rio, etc., and for the use of the inter- 
ested I make this affirmation, on the date, in this city, 3Iay 21st, 
1866. TERAN y BARRIOS. 



The document from which the following extract is taken bears 
date 1764, and is one of a collection of documents written by the 
Jesuits between the years 1634 and 1774, and relating to the mines 
and missions of Sonora. These documents were compiled by Friar 
Francisco Figuero, and published in the City of Mexico in 1792, \f 
and it is from this work that I make the extract. I have translated 
it from the Spanish in which it originally appears : 

" Fourteen leagues to the north of Cumpas is the ancient real of 
Nacosari, which from being very rich has been reduced by the hos- 
tilities of the Apaches to little more than one resident, with a few 
of his armed people and some Oputos. It has num'erous and rich 
mines in all directions, but their working has been much interfered 
with because of the dangers to which the laborers were ever exposed 
from the Apaches. To the north there were two other reals and 
that of Cherunivava, five leagues distant, with a mine of the richest 
character of both gold and silver ; the lay of gold is not heavy ; the 
yield of silver is three to four marcs to the arroba (of 25 pounds), 
the dirt heaps yielding this amount after the abandonment of the 
mine, which occurred on the 5th of March, 1742, on account of the 
Apaches having assaulted the neighboring real of Aguaje. This 
real was afterwards maintained until 1744, when being a second 
time assaulted by the Apaches, who killed a number of its people 
and burned its houses, it has remained abandoned until the present 
day. So, also, has the old real of Nacosari since 1742, for the same 
reasons, and the real of Pena, about two leagues south west of Xa- 
cosari, and that of the Hacienda Vieja, a similar distance to the 
east. Four leagues north-west of Nacosari is the real of Garrigon, 
with mines of gold and silver nearly pure, which were all abandoned 



56 

some years before, because of tbe cruelty of the Apaches, and not 
from want of ores, which the mines of this district have with hirge 
lays. I am assured by Vasquez, above mentioned, that many of 
these mines gave 75 marcs of silver per 100 pounds of ore, and, 
among others, was that of the Pinal, of silver and gold nearly pure, 
and that of the Huacal, though they are somewhat distant (from 
Cumpas, and consequently nearer San Juan del Rio). Not far dis- 
tant from the Pinal was formerly the old town of Toapatz, after- 
wards the raining rciil of San Juan del Rio, depopulated because of 
the same enemy, with another near Oputo, called the Nori." 



GAMBOA S CATALOGUE OF MIXES. 

I have not now within reach the catalogue of the mining districts 
in Mexico, compiled and published in connection with commentaries 
upon the Spanish mining laws, by Gamboa, under the royal favor, 
in 17G1 ; though I remember very distinctly that he awards to the 
mining district controlled by your property as great commendation 
as that given to any other district in Mexico. 



COL. bourne's report. 



Colonel Bourne, an English gentleman, journeyed through Sonora 
in 1826 and 1827, with a view to examine into its' mineral features, 
and secure reliable information of its mines. The following is an 
extract from his report : 

In traversing these mountains (Nacosari and San Juan del Rio) 
you meet with many excavations, but the principal mine, called San 
Pedro de Nacosari, is a phenomenon. The vein runs east and west, 
and is laid open from the surface more than one thousand varas to 
the depth of seventy varas; the breadth of the aperture is about 
two yards, but on each side are immense quantities of rubbish 
thrown out. Much dirt and sand have washed in and covered the 
vein ; but general report says that the mine has no water in the in- 
terior, and that the ores were so rich that the best yielded from 25 
to 30 marcs of silver for 25 pounds of ore. 

The mines of Cherunivava, Pinal, Huacal, Aguaje, and many 
others, are situated to the north and north-east of Nacosari, at no 
great distance from San Juan del Rio, built upon a stream which 
falls into the Yaqui. These minerals are equally rich with those 



57 

already described. Pinal contains a greater proportion of gold ttan 
silver. It is recorded in the archives of Arispe that the former 
owner, a lady, by name Maria Quijada, lent at one time 700 marcs 
[about $60,000] of gold for the use of the Government. 

Cherunivava is a very old mine, worked in the same way as San 
Pedro ; as indeed are all the mines in this part of the country. The 
direction of the vein is east and west, the breadth two varas. The 
last persons who undertook to work these mines were three men by 
the names of Escalante, Vasquez and Caulla. They cleared away 
the rubbish at one end until they found a pillar left to support some 
of the old workings, from which they took ores that produced 
^70,000, and yielded seventy marcs of silver per carga of 300 lbs. 
Not immediately finding the principal vein, they divided the money 
and discontinued their works. The mine is laid open from the sur- 
face 400 yards in bight. Tradition says that the first discoverers 
found the vein of virgin silver half a vara in breadth ; that it was 
abandoned in the Apache war, with the vein, as described above, two 
varas, and ores of seventy marcs per carga. The richness of these 
ores appears almost incredible, but when we consider the great quan- 
tities of bars of silver that Sonora has produced without the aid of 
quicksilver, the metals must have been very rich and abundant. — 
Ward's Mexico, pp. 578-9, vol. 2, 



WAED S MEXICO. 



The most authentic work published concerning the mines of Mex- 
ico is undoubtedly that entitled " Mexico in 1827," by H. Gr. Ward, 
British Charge d' Affaires in that country during the years 1825, 
'26 and '27, from which I take the following. Mr. Wakd had oc- 
casion to travel, in the discharge of his duties, over a large portion 
of the country, during which he secured invaluable data concerning 
the mines of Mexico and their former product, not attainable before 
or since : 

" That the great mineral treasures of Mexico commence exactly 
at the point where Humboldt rightly states the labors of the Span- 
iards to have terminated (about latitude 24°), is a fact now univer- 
sally admitted by the native miners, although hitherto but little 
known in Europe. 

" In order the better to illustrate it, I shall beg to subjoin some 
details, which I was enabled to collect during my journey into the 



58 

interior, premisinj^ that I have the evidence of registers of produce 
and official documents for every fact that I submit to my readers 
(some of the least voluminous of which I subjoin), and that I have 
adopted nothing upon mere verbal report. 

"The States of Durango, Sonora, Chihuahua and Sinaloa contain 
an infinity of mines, hitherto but little known, but holding out, 
wherever they have been tried, a promise of riches superior to any- 
thing that Mexico has yet produced. These districts are distin- 
guished not less by the superior quality of their ores than by the 
circumstances of their beginning to be productive within a very little 
distance from the surface (usually from ten to fifteen yards) ; where- 
as the Veta Madre of Guanajuato yields little or nothing until the 
depth of eighty yards is attained. The metals seem to increase in 
richness as you approach the north ; insomuch that in the redl or 
district of Jesus Maria, in that great branch of the Sierra Madre 
which separates the States of Durango and Chihuahua from those 
of Sonora and Sinaloa to the north and west, the ores of the mine 
of Santa Juliana, which does not exceed seventy yards in depth, 
appear, by a certified report from the Deputation dc Mineria now 
before me, to average seven and eight marcs of silver per carga of 
three hundred pounds, which is the average produce of ten cargaa 
of good ore in Guanajuato ; while ores of the best quality yield as 
much as from four to ten marcs per arroba of twenty-five pounds, or 
forty marcs per carga." — Pp. 12-i-8, vol. 2. 

" "Without entering into similar details respecting each of the other 
districts mentioned in the table of northern mines, it will be suffi- 
cient to state that, with some few exceptions, they all possess, in a 
greater or less degree, the same advantages — richness of ores and 
veins productive almost at the surface ; that few have been worked 
to any extent; and, consequently, that the risk of making the neces- 
sary experiments there is trifling in comparison with the immense 
outlay required by the old mines of the southern districts, which 
have, in general, attained an enormous depth." — P. 131, vol. 2. 

" I must, however, remark generally, that Mr. Glennie's (an ex- 
perienced English minin<r engineer) views with regard to the riches 
of the Sierra Madre (which he terms one mine from Guarisamay to 
Jesus Maria) coincide entirely with those entertained by Colonel 
Bourne; and that the opinions of both are confirmed by all the 
Mexicans who have visited the internal provinces; by the official 
documents frequently alluded to in the foregoing books; and by the 



59 

unanimous evidence of a number of most respectable individuals 
whom I bad an opportunity of cDnsulting myself upon the subject, 
at Durango and elsewhere." — P. 606, vol. 2. 

In mentioning the mines on the San Juan del Rio property and 
controlled by it, he remarks that they are 

" In a position possessing great local advantages — a fertile coun- 
try, the vicinity of two large rivers, and a communication by water 
with the Pacific. The mines themselves were formerly celebrated 
for their riches, and the capital required to bring them again into 
activity is very small. The specimens which I have seen of the ores 
extracted from them almost induces one to adopt the theory that the 
proportion of silver contained in the ores increases as you advance 
toward the north — a theory which is very generally believed at 
present in Mexico, and which is certainly confirmed by the superior- 
ity of all the northern ores to those of the richest districts in the 
south."_P. 136, vol. 2. 

Again he remarks : 

" The most noted are the mines of San Juan Bautiste de Sonora 
(situated upon a mountain eight leagues to the north-west of Opo- 
sura, which is crossed in different (directions by fourteen veins, all 
distinctly pronounced,) and those of San Pedro, Nacosari and Che- 
runivava (to the north and north north-west of Oposura). 

" In all these districts the depth of the mines is inconsiderable, 
their former riches acknowledged, and the causes by which their 
working was interrupted known. The advances necessary in order 
to bring them into activity are small, for in fact it is more remit- 
tances and mining stores (which must be sent around Cape Horn to 
(xuaymas) than money that is requisite. 

" I am aware that many of the statements contained in this and 
theprecedingbooks, respecting the mineral riches of the north of New 
Spain, will be thought exaggerated. They are not so ; they will be con- 
firmed by every future report ; and, in a, few years, the public, fa- 
miliarized with facts which are only questioned because they are 
new, will wonder at its present credulity, and regret the loss of ad- 
vantages which may not always be within its reach." — Pp. 599- 
600, vol. 2. 



60 

TVILSON's MEXICO. 

The following extracts are taken from ''Wilson's Mexico," pub- 
lished in 1S56: 

" Chihuahua and Sonora are the States or departments to be af- 
fected by our Pacific Railroad. Sonora is the most valuable of the 
two, not only on account of its inexhaustible supplies of silver, but 
also on account of its delightful climate and agricultural resources. 
It is like the land of the blessed in oriental story. California does 
not surpass it in fertility or in climate. "With industry and thrift it 
could sustain a population equal to that of all Mexico. The table- 
lands and the valleys are so near together that the products of all 
climates flourish almost side by side. 

"■ But it is the remarkable abundance of silver which distinguishes 
it above all other countries except Chihuahua. I have described in 
a former chapter the long and laborious processes by which silver is 
.produced from the ore in the southern mines, and also the great 
depths from which it is raised. In Sonora silver is most commonly 
extracted from the ore by the simple process of fusion. If we should 
adopt the theory that veins of ore extend through the entire length 
of Mexico, then I should say that they '-crop out" in Sonora, or, 
rather, that the silver lodes which are here above the surface dip 
toward the City of Mexico and also northward toward Calfornia." — 
Fp. 3S3-3S4. 

■• A hundred years have passed since the once formidable Apaches 
ewept over Northern Sonora like a deluge, blotting out forever the 
hopes which the Spanish Court had conceived of retrieving the fallen 
finances of their empire from this El Dorado. But Providence had 
ordered it otherwise. The Spaniards had done enough to demon- 
strate its inexhaustible wealth, and then they were driven away from 
this "creation of silver,"' and the whole deposit held for a hundred 
years in reserve for the uses of another race, who were destined to 
overrun the continent." — P. 369. 

" Such is Sonora, a region of country which combines the rare at- 
tractions of the richest silver mines in the world, lying in the midst 
of the finest agricultural districts, and where the climate is as at- 
tractive as its mineral riches. But it.s richest mineral district is 
near its northern frontier." — P. 3SS. 



HISTOET OF TITLE. 

CiscLsyATL August 20, 18<56. 

2o fhe Memlern of tie Cincinnad Land and Mining As^jdati/n of 
Scmora. Mexico : 

GE5TLEMEX :— Before buying of 3Ir. CHAaLES Desxax tte 
Grant of Fonr Leagues of Land issued to tim in 15^57. bv'CoAfoy- 
rdRT, the tken President of the Afexiean EepubHc, I secured the 
legal opinion of my Attorney in Xew York city, that the Grant was 
a valid one, and binding on any subse-'^Tient GoTernment of Mexico. 

Soon after that, in 1858, I risited Ex-President Cohosfoet and 
his Secretary when in Xew York : and they assured me that it was 
issued for a ralid consideration, and was bin-iing on the G-i-em- 
ment of 3Iexico. 

On September 30. 1360, my said Attorney made ftirther and 
direct inquiry of the 3Iexican GoTemment, through its Consul at 
New York, Mr. J. M. Duba:!i, as to its validity; to which the 3Iex- 
ican 31inister of Relacion^? [Secretary of State] replied bv oSeial 
letter to the Consul. *• That the Grant made to 3Ir. Chabjies Des- 
MA2f is good, sine-e at the date on which it was made the Govern- 
ment of CoMOxrosT was in power (dictatoriaL)" 

Soon after purchasing it I forwarded a true and certified copy to 
Gen. Lewis Ca5s, then Secretary of State of the United States, to 
be filed in his Department as wiU appear by the Omeial Copy of 
the same, certified to by TTji. Husteb. Acting Secretary of State. 
of June 7. 1865, published herewith. 

In July, 1>65, at your iustance and for your account. I ^ave a 
Power of Attorney to 3Ir. Cuiqungs Cherry, to locate the Grant. 
In January. 1866, he presented the oKginal papers to Governor 
Pes^^ueeba, present Liberal Governor of the State of Sonora where 
it was to be located, for his decision as to its binding force. He 
pronounc-ed it valid.: and said if the 3Iaximi]ian «^veriment should 
refuse to recognize it, his Government, when asain in power, would 
recognize it- but advised, as Maximilian's OScials were in power 
m Sonora, taat he locate the Grant by their authority. This 
has been done promptly, and without the least exceptions to 
it: as will fully appear by the report of their o^eial aetion 
(translations) herewith published— the originals thereof, in aU cases, 
being upon stamped paper and duly sealed- 

EIX^AE coyExrs'G. 



G2 
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 

DEPARTMENT OF STATE. 

To all to whom these presents shall come, Greeting : 

I certify, That annexed is a true copy of papers transmitted by 
Mr. EoaAR Conklinq on the twenty-ninth of September, one thou- 
sand eight hundred and fifty-eight, and received on the day follow- 
ing at this Department, where they are yet on file; and that the 
certificates thereto in the Spanish language, with seal attached, are 
to all appearances genuine originals. 

In testimony whereof, I, William Hun- 
ter, Acting Secretaty of State of the United 
States, have hereunto subscribed my name 
and caused the seal of the Department of 
State to be aflBxed. 

Done at the City of Washington, this 
seventh day of June, A. D. 1865, and of 
the Independence of the United States of 
America the eighty-ninth. 

W. Hunter. 




■1 



Ministry of Fomento. 
Colonization, Industry and Commerce, 
of the Mexican Republic. 

After presentation to Bis Excellency the President of the 
Republic, of your solicitation, asking a concession of Four Square 
Mexican Leagues of untitled Lands that may be found in Sonora, 
he has been pleased to grant the same, with the understanding, that 
it shall be for your account to ascertain and designate the place 
•where said Lands exist. You to cause the same to be measured, 
and the boundaries drawn, by a competent surveyor, who shall form 
its corresponding plan and description. 

That after this being done, it shall be sent to this department, in 
order to obtain the corresponding Title of Ownership. According 
to the order of the Supreme Government, I advise you for the cor- 
responding effect as the result of your above mentioned solicita- 
tion. 

God and Liberty ! Mexico, March 27, 1857. 

SILICEO. 
Mr. Charles Denman. 



63 

The undersigned 1st Chief Clerk of the Ministry of Foreign 
Relations : 

I hereby certify, that the signature at foot of foregoing official 
document is that of Manuel Siliceo, Minister of Fomento, Coloniza- 
tion, Industry and Commerce of the Mexican Republic, and the 
same used in all documents that he authorizes. Mexico April 22d 
1857, 

LUCAS DE PALACIO r MAGAROLA. 
EEruBLicA Mexicana, Department ") 
OF State and Foreign Relations, j 
Official. 

Legation op the United ") 
States in Mexico. j 

The undersigned. Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipo- 
tentiary of the United States to Mexico, hereby certifies, that the 
foregoing is the signature of Lucas de Palacio y Magarola, 
Chief Clerk of the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Mexican 
Republic. 

JOHN FORSYTH. 

J^Tdel UbrotJspt C0N";;rAD0 MeXICANO en N. YoRK. 

Dros $5 (cinco.) Certifico : que las anteriores copias lo son 

a la letra de los documentos originales pre- 
sentailos a este Consulado, y los cuales han sido traducidos del 
idioma Castellano al Yngles por el que subscribe. 

Y para que conste espido el presente certificado en Nueva York 
a 28 de Set^- de 1858. ' 

( '— "— > -, J. M. DURAN. 

■i SELLO. L 

Know all men by these presents, that I, Charles Denman, of 
the City of New York, in consideration of the sum of Twenty Thou- 
sand Dollars to me paid by Edgar Conkling, of the City of Cin- 
cinnati, and State of Ohio, have granted, bargained, sold, and 
assigned and transferred unto the said Edgar Conkling, all my 
right, title and interest in and to Pour Sitios (or Leagues) of Land, 
situate in S.^nora in the Republic of xAIexico, to be selected by my 
said grantee, out of the untitled lands of said Republic, in the said 
State of Sonora, in conformity with the grant of the said four 
leagues of land made to me by the gaid Republic of Mexico, bearing 
date the twenty-seventh of March, 1857, of which the following is 
a c jpy, the original being hereto annexed, viz. : 



64 

" Dcida cuenta al E. S. elPresidente de la Republica con lasulici- 
tud de Y. contraliida d que se le concedan cuatro sitios de ganudo 
mayor — de los terrenos baldios que haya en Sonora se ha servido 
acordar de conformidad, bajo el concepto de quo sera de cuenta de 
V. seilalar el lugar donde existan tales baldios, destinaudolos 
judicialmente y raidandolos por medio de un perito que foime el 
piano y description correspondieate. Que concluidas estas dilgencias 
las reraita jv esta Secretaria para que se le cspida el titulo de propriedad 
correspondiente. Lo que de ordeu Suprema digo a V. para los efectos 
correspondientes como res\!ltado de su mencionada solicitud." 
Dios y Libertad ! Megico, Mzo. 27 de 1857. 

(Signed) SILICEO— ijui.rica. 

And I, the said Charles Denman, do also assign, sell and 
transfer to the said Edgar Conkling, the grant above recited, and 
authorize him and his legal representatives in my name or other- 
wise, to locate, select and take possession of the lands in said grant 
mentioned, and to receive all proper deeds, patents and grants 
therefor, and to hold said lands to his own use forever ; and to 
convey the said lands with like effect as I could do had I located 
the same, and these presents had not been executed ; with power 
also to my said grantee to assign the said grant and to substitute 
his assign as my attorney lor the purpose of locating and convey- 
ing said lands. 

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal at the 
city of New York, the ninth day of March, in the year of our Lord 
one thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight. 

CHARLES DENMAN. / TTtT ^ 



) 



CI 1 1 J J T J • U -» J- P- WlNGATE, 

Sealed and delivered in the | ^.^^^^ ^ MoRSOX, 
presence of j ^has. A. Eappallo. 



United States of America, 
State, City and County of New York. 

Be it known that on the ninth day of Maroh, in the year 
one thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, before me Charles 
A. Rappallo, a notary public duly commissioned and sworn in 
and for the State of New York, dwelling in the City of New York, 
personally appeared Mr. Charles Denaian to me personally known, 



65 

and te executed the foregoing instrument in my presence, and in 
the presence of Jonah P. Wingate and Charles T. Morson, the 
subscribing witnesses, who signed their names as witnesses in my 
presence. 

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal 
of office the day and year last above written, 
-:-f-^~-r^r-~;r~- Charles A. Rappallo, 

f Charles A. Rappallo, "» 

i Notary Public, V Notarv PubHc. 

(. T^ew York. -» •' 



Mexican Consulate \ 
m New York. | 

No. 127. 

„ . a , 28 I hereby certify that the signature of Charles 

of correspg book A. Rappallo, who it appears authorized the 

Fees $2. present document, is that of a notary public of 

this city ; and that the same, as well as the accompanying seal, is 
entitled to full faith and credit. 

In testimony whereof, I hereunto set my hand and seal of office, 
in the city of New York, this (10th) tenth day of March (1858) 
one thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight. 

J. M. DURAN. 

Consnlado 




CONSULADO MeXICANO EN N. YoRK. 

No. 159. 

Hes^o a P 31 Certifico : que las anteriores eopias lo son a 

del lib'" resp" la letra de los documentos originales presentados 

PCS $ (cmco.) ^ ^g^g Consulado, y los cuales han sido escrupulo- 
samente comparados y traducidos por el que subscribe del Castellano 
al Yngles, la parte que lo requeria. 

Y para que consto espido el presente certifieado en Nueva York, 
a 28 de Sef^ de 1858. 
^^— , J. M. DURAN. 



(5) 



66 

Principal O/fice of (he Drpnrtmmt oj Sonora 
No. 2G21, -.'A Class.— 3a Seal— r)U cents. Qual- 
ified for ISGU and 18G7. Ures, J.\NUAnY Isx op 
1806. Francisco N. Lopez. 

SeSor Sub Prefector of this District : — 

CuMMiNGS Cherry, a native of Scotland, Citizen of the United 
States of America for thirty years, and resident in Sonora for two 
months, appears before you, and, in the customary form, says : 
Because of a concession decreed by his Excellent Sefior, the Presi- 
dent of the Republic in office on the 27th of March of 1857, and 
other documents thereto annexed, and the Power of Attorney which 
I return, showing that I am entitled to own four square leagues of 
the public estate of Sonora, I have chosen — in accordance with the 
terms of my concession, and have found abandoned and deserted — 
the lands which were comprehended in the ancient ranche of '• San 
Juan del Rio," and I make of these proper denouncement according 
to law, and have measured the same as follows, viz. : Commencing 
at and running easterly from the junction of '' Joriquipa" caiiada 
with the River a sufficient distance to include within the measure- 
ment the " Valenzuela" and " San Patricio " Mines ; and thence run- 
ning from this point southerly and westerly, a sufficient distance to 
include within the measurement the "Canon de los Heurigos," this 
measurement to accommodate itself in form so as to include the 
desired lands. 

In the duties of the office in your charge, you will order the 
publication of this denouncement in the Official Periodical of the 
Department, to the end that if there are any persons who have just 
claims to the lands which I ask for, they may present themselves to 
prove the same within the legal period of time which you will 
designate ; and if no claimants appear, nor no legal claims to the 
property be presented, in the legal period of time, I ask that the 
above described lands be awarded to me, as a step prior to the 
Official measurement and other procedures legal and proper to give 
me title in accordance with the conditions of my grant; consenting 
to pay such necessary costs and expense as may be incurred in 
placing me in possession of these lands. 

Through right of property, and not from malice, I do that which 

is necessary, etc. 

CUMMINGS CHERRY. 
Moctezuma, January 31, 1866. 



67 

Imperial Mexico. •> 

Sub-Prefectura of JMoctezuma, j 

Februar-s 5fch of 1866. 
For the presenter and claimant I transmit a copy of the original 
denouncement to the Senor Editor of the " Periodico Oficiar' of 
the Department, in order that, if it pleases, it may be inserted in 
Its columns, to the end that any persons who have just claim to the 
land denounced may present it as evidence before this Sub-Prefec 
tura, within the period of thirty days; in the knowledge that if 
they do not benefit by this, I will adjudge the expressed lands to 
the denouncer, as a prior step to other legal and proper pro- 
cedures. i r r 

The Sub-Prefector of Moctezuma in this manner determines, and 
amxes his signature. 

GKEGORIO MOEENO. { "s^ I 

Imperial Mexico. 

Gregorio Moreno, Sub-Prefecto of the District of Moctezuma, 

Certifies m correct form, that on this date is concluded the 

period of time for the announcement in the ^^Periodico Oficiaiy for 

the benefit of those interested in the lands of Na.osari and Sau 

Juan del Eio, denounced by the foreigner, Cummings Cherry, who 

IS now present, for a decree to him of his just claims. I certify 

a so that to the lands of San Juan del Hio, there is one opposition 

or he Senora Dona Joseea Tinoca, residing in Ures, inserted in 

he '; Penodico Oficial." Concerning the lands of Nacosari I have 

received no opposition; neither has there been presertted any tides or 

Justcla^ms to the lands of Nacosari and San Juan del Rio. Finally 

LIZ 1 T TZ '^"'''"' ' ^'''"^'^ ^^^^^^-'^ - Moctezuma,' 
the Ibth of March, of 1866, 

GRBGOEIO MORENO, r-^, 

Imperial Mexico. ■» 

Sub-Prefectura of Moctezuma. / 

Moctezuma, March 16, 1866. 

General r7r" "f •"' ?"'''"""' ^''"^""' ^^ — -- of the 
General Government, in the time of the SeSor Comonfort for four 

Zunln: '^'l' '''''' ^^ '^'' ''-''''' - ''^ interested mS 
select in Sonora, and in accordance with the conditions thereof de 

nounced before this Sub-Prefectura the lands of <' Z sarT'' and 

San Juan del Eio " i. this District, and requested the pubHcarion 



68 

of tliese denouncements in the Official Periodical of the Govern- 
ment, to the end that such persons as might consider themselves pos- 
sessed of just title to these lands, might present them as evidence 
to this effect, before the Sub-Prcfector within such reasonable period 
of time as might be settled upon. 

I decreed upon these denouncements, in conformity with the re- 
quest of Seiiur Cummings Cherry, an order to the interested in 
the denounced lands, to appear within thirty days, and present and 
prove any rights which they may claim to possess ; and during this 
period of time, the notices were published three successive times in 
the " Periodico Oficial." At the expiration of the decreed time, 
but a single opposition had been made, viz.: to the lands of San Juan 
del Kio, by the Sefiora Tinoca ; but no title of property was pre- 
sented, because she declared it had been lost ; but she had appealed 
to the Minister of Fomento, in Mexico, accompanied by the docu- 
ments concerning her claim to the mentioned lands, to the end that 
she might have presented to her the respective titles. On the ter- 
mination of the period of time granted to those interested to pre- 
sent themselves, the Senor Cherry demanded possession of the re- 
spective lands successively, from the reason that no documents eviden- 
cing claim or title to them had been presented, nor had any person 
disputed verbally, and he took exception to the protest of Senora 
Tinoca. This Sub-Prefectura, in view of the Government decree, 
is-ued by his S. M., the Emperor, on 8th November of the prece- 
ding year, is ignorant of any of its articles comprehend in their 
conditions, the concesiion extended to the Seiior Cummings Cherry; 
and that all may be proper and correct, he begs permission to leave 
it in the better judgment of your Excellency, that, if it pleases, you 
may give him explanation and direction what is his duty to do in 
this proceeding. The interested party will present to your Excel- 
lency the documents relating to his denouncements. 
God guard your Excellency many years ! 

The Sub-Prefectura of Moctezuma, 

GREGORIO MORENO. {!!^} 

Senr. Superior Prefector (Governor) of the Department, Hermosillo. 



69 

Imperial Mexico. ") 

Superior Political Prefector of the I 

Department of Sonora. J Gf^UATMAS, April 11th, of 1866, 

With date 27th of March, of 1857, the Minister of Fomento 
resolved on a solicitude of Charles Denman, of which resolve the 
following is a copy: 

[See Original Grant, ante pp. 62 and 64.] 

^ And the petition of the claimant I return to you, for your atten- 
tion ; and in order that you may take the necessary steps for the 
legal measurement and demarkation of the lands, and the carrying 
out of the conditions of the concession copied above. 
The Superior Prefector (Governor) of the Department, 

J. M. ASTIASARAN. r^-.) 

■J SEAL, y 

Senor Sub-Prefectura of the Pistrict of Moctezuma. ""^ 

I certify the above is a true copy of the original. 
P. A., Secretary of the District, The Municipal Commissioner, 

JOSE ZUBIAS 

Imperial Mexico. ") 

Sub-Prefectura of the Dis- [ 

trict of Moctezuma. J April 21st, of 1866. 

The Senor Cummings Cherry has placed in my hands a com- 
munieation relative to the official measurement and designation of 
the lands denounced by the said Sefior Cherry. I can not^'carry out 
the order of the Superior Prefector in the present condition of af- 
fairs, as I am ordered to march immediately with the garrison of 
this place to where my Chief Superior may order. 
The Sub Prefector and Commandant, 

ANTONIO TARAN y BARRIOS, l^;^} 

Imperial Mexico. "> 

Sub-Prefectura of Moctezuma, / 

April 29th, of 1866. 
In order to give possession of the lands, viz : Four Leagues of 
Public Lands, which the American Citizen Cummings Cherry has 
solicited before this Sub-Prefectura, by virtue of the concession, of 
which a copy accompanies this, I hereby appoint you the Official 
Surveyor, that you may conduct the measurement of the lands indi- 
cated, form the plans and descriptions corresponding, and remit 
these respective documents to this office for acceptance. If you 



70 

determine to accept the appointment, proceed with the measure- 
ment without delay, accompanied by the interested party, and the 
necessary assistants. 

God guard you many years I 

The Sub-Prefector of Moctezuma, 

ANTONIO TARAN y BARRIOS. \^!^} 
Seflor Don Vicente Provencio, Granadas. 

I certify that the above is a true copy of the original. 

P. A., Sec'y. of the District, Municipal Commissioner, 

JOSE ZUBIAS. 
Moctezuma, May 12th, of 18G6. 



Year of 1866. 
COPY 
Of the official returns of the measurements of four leagues [or 
sitios] of the Public Lands, as near as practicable, by the official 
Land Surveyor, Don Vicente Provencio, at the place named San 
Juan del Rio, in the District of Moctezuma, in favor of the Ameri- 
can Citizen, Cumminqs Cherry. 



Granadas, May 2d, of 1866. 

No person having presented any interest or claim legally to hold 
rioht to the lands denounced, I proceed to the measurement and 
marking of boundaries corresponding. 

Vicente Provencio, Official Surveyor, specially appointed by 
the Sub-Prefectura of the District, in order of 29th of the prece- 
ding month, as resolved and appointed in the ordinary form. 

I Attest, 

VICENTE PROVENCIO. r-^. 

■j SEAL. V 

Attest — Jesus DuRAZo, * -v^ -^ 

Jesus Provencio. 



Oputo, May 3d, of 1866. 
When about to proceed to the measurement of the lands de- 
nounced in " San Juan del Rio," and when in their vicinity, I sent 
a notification to the Citizen, Antonio Mirando, only heir that is 
known to the Ranche designated by the name "Padre Diego," and 
entered a copy of the same in my book. He, in reply, said, that in 



71 

truth he was the heir, but did not have the evidences of title, nor 
know the extent or limits of what they called for. This he said, 
but did not sign, not knowing how to write. 

So say I, the Official Surveyor, with my assistants evid ncing. 

VICENTE PROVENCIO. {Jj^} 
Attest — Jesus Durazo, 

Jesus Provencio. 



On the same day, and at the same place, in accordance with my 
duty, I appointed the necessary officials to assist me in the measure- 
ment solicited. I nominated, as accountant, the Citizen Jose Du- 
RAZO, and as marker and pointer, the Citizen Vicente Kios, and as 
chain bearers, with others of this class, Antonio Ochoa and Jose 
Muiioz. 

Vicente Provencio, Official Surveyor, as resolved and appointed 
in the usual form. 

VICENTE PPtOVENCIO. (---^i 
Attest — Jesus DuRAzo, lv_^J 

Jesus Provencio. 



At the Ranche of San Juan del Rio, on the 3d dat of the 
MONTH of May, of Eighteen Hundred and Sixty-six. 

I, Vicente Provencio, Official Surveyor, appointed to measure 
these lands, in company with Mr. Cummings Cherry, Citizen of 
the United States, and with the officials appointed and named in the 
preceding certificate, and with my assistant and witnesses, with the 
object of measuring and marking the limits of the four leagues of 
public lands denounced by the accompanying Seiior, proceeded to 
make careful view and recognition of them ; and from my examina- 
tions,, I formed a description, viz: That on either side of the Rio 
G-rande (or Yaqui) are bottom lands of extent, and highly adapted 
to cultivation, and a supply of water sufficient for any purpose re- 
quired can be brought upon them from the river, at a small cost. 
These bottom lands are abundantly timbered with such classes as 
are common to the country, viz: Mesquit, Chinos (live Oaks), Ala- 
mos (Poplars), Pesetas (Iron wood), and others. Besides the River 
Grande, the lands are plentifully supplied with other strong streams 
of water, and permanent water springs. The Gallon of the Heu- 
rigos abounds with timber of this name and species. The lands en- 



72 

closing the river bottoms and the valleys arc mountainous, and nearly 
impassable. There are different varieties of grass, though on the 
higher points the pasturage is poor. 

Previous to the inspection of the lands, I received from the of- 
ficials appointed, the usual affirmation to discharge faithfully and 
justly their respective trusts, and, in continuation, delivered to the 
official measurers a tape, formed of wire, of the most improved in- 
vention, containing fifty English feet, which I measured, and found 
to be equal to eighteen and a third Mexican yards (varas), and 
which, in my measurements, I allowed it to be. 

I commenced the measurement on a red crest, below which, the 
Eiver Grande breaks through the rocks, and in the vicinity of, and 
on the same side with the mouth ot the Caiiada of " Joriquipe ; " 
and having taken observations of the courses with an instrument or 
compass, whose needle traversed perfectly, I took the direction to a 
point North of East, forming an obtuse angle at the North-West 
corner, making the line marked on the map of the survey as " No. 
5," from the letter "A." and found it to run in a course eighty 
decrees to the East. In this course I measured ten thousand Mex- 
ican yards, passing between and beyond the " Yalenzuello " moun- 
tain, and another — a red mountain — to the North of this, and 
coming to a termination on a crest of a "sugar-loaf" mountain on 
the other side, where I erected the monument designated by the 
letter B- 

From here I took a course South, and carefully measured five 
thousand Mexican yards, running to a crest of "Pauas Blanca " 
(white mounds) on the brow of a high mountain, where I erected 
the monument designated by the letter C. 

From here I continued the line in a course twenty-two degrees to 
the West, and measured eight thousand eight hundred and forty 
Mexican yards, terminating at a mountjiin of lofty crown rocks or 
table crests, designated on the accompanying map by the letter D, 

From here I took a course fifty-four degrees to the West, and 
measured five thousand five hundred Mexican yards, to a mountain 
which is at the foot of a loftier one, and beyond the canon of the 
Heurigos, on which I erected the monument represented on the map 
by the letter E. 

And, in conclusion, I took a North course, with twenty-four de- 
grees to the West, and measured ten thousand six hundred and sixty 
Mexican yards, which terminated at the point from which I started. 

By this conclusion I have completed the measurement, and have, 



73 

as a result, the figure represented by the dark lines of the accom- 
panying map, within which is contained an area or superficies of 
ninety-seven million seven hundred and sixty-nine thousand square 
Mexican yards. Adjacent, on the South, Is the "Padre Diego" 
Ranche, and on the North- West and East are unoccupied lands^ 

And in conjunction with the possessor, the officials who accom- 
panied, and my assistants, I affirm, 

YICENTE PROVENCIO, 
CUMMINGS CHERRY, 

Attest— J Esvs DuRAzo, JOSE DURAZO. 

Jestjs Pkovencio, 



San Juan del R[o, May 6th, of 186b\ 
^ Having concluded the measurements, and designated the limits of 
his land, I notified Mr. Cherry ; and in effect said that the measure- 
ment I had made, did not quite contain the one hundred millions of 
square Mexican yards, which corresponded to the four leagues con- 
ceded ; and if he agreed to accept that which I have measured, to 
manifest it by signing with me and my assistants. 

VICENTE PROVENCIO. 
Attest— Jiisjjs DuRAzo, CUxMMINGS CHERRY. 

Jesus Provencio. 



MocTEZUMA, May 11th, of 1866. 
Having concluded the measurement, and marked out the limits 
of the lands of the denounced, and completed the statement of the 
same, and the description of the lands and the matters connected 
therewith, I remit them to the Sub-Prefectura of the District, for 
the final disposal. 

Vicente Provencio, Official Surveyor, so concludes and affirms 
in the usual form. 

VICENTE PROVENCIO. { seal, j 
Attest — Jesus Durazo, 

Jesus Provencio. 

Note.~ln six leaves of writing of utility, I remit these state- 
ments of proceedings to the Sub-Prefectura of the District for final 
disposal. 



74 

DESCRIPTION OF PLAN OF SURVEY. 

A — Obtuse angle to the North-West ; on a crest, below which a 
Rio Grande (the Yaqui) breaks through the rocks, and in the vi- 
cinity of. above, the mouth of the Canada of " Joriquipe," 

B — Acute angle to the North-East, on a "sugar-loaf" mountain, 
marked with a crest facing the upper terminus of the Yalenzuello 
mountain, and running nearly in the same course, and overlooking 
the crest of the San Patricio vein, and in view of the Yalenzuello 
vein, which is at the base of the mountain of this name. It has, 
to the "West, a mountain with a peculiar red, velvety appearance. 
This monument mountain is of the same color. 

C — Obtuse angle to the East, on a white crest, " Pefla Blanca," 
which is on the brow of a high mountain. 

D — Obtuse angle to the South. On a mountain not very high, 
crowned by a peculiar occurrence of rocks, or round crests. 

E — Acute angle to the West. On a mountain, at the base of a 
very elevated one, beyond, and overlooking the "Cailon de los Heu- 
rigos." The monument is erected on a mound of loose rocks, and 
tlie sides of the mountain are composed of loose rocks. 

resume: 

No. 1, Trapezium 55,687,500 

No. 2. do. 34,555,250 

No. 3, Triangle 3,278,750 

No. 4, do. 1,277,500 

No. 5, do. 2.970,000 

Total sum of square yards 97,769,000 

VICENTE PROVENCIO. { s^^^- } 
MocTEZUMA. May 11th, of 1866. 



Secretary General of 1 
the Department of Soaora. j 

Ures, May 19th, of 1866. 

I certify that the within is a copy of the original statement of 

proceedings in San Juan del Rio, by order of the Seiior Political 

Prefector Superior of the Department of Sonora. 

The Secretary General of Sonora, 



Y. SEPULVEDA. { s^^- } 



s 



^UPILlLirSTlKiWra'G TfflE laEPOKT (IDF SimtOTXCOK.OF TJllTE 




75 

Administration of Taxes of the Drpartment of Sonora. 
2d Class— 4tli Seal— 12i Cents— No. 767. Qual- 
ified for 1866 and 1867, in conformity to the Su- 
preme Order of 29th of November of 1865. Ures, 
Januaijiy 20th op 1866. 
Francisco iV". Lopez. Manuel Terdn. 

Imperial Mexico. ") 

.Commissioner Municipal of Moctezuma. j 

Jose Zubias, Commissioner Municipal of Moctezuma, etc., in con- 
formity to law, 

Certifies : That in the absence from the District of the Senor Sub- 
Prefectura, Don Antonio T. t Barrios, and his substitute, Don 
Ygnacio Soto, and in virtue of my appointment by the latter as 
his substitute to the charges of the Sub-Prefectura of this District, 
I have received from Don Vicente Provencio, Ofl&cia] Surveyor, 
the papers of proceedings of the measurements ordered of the lands 
of San Juan del Rio and Nacosari, in favor of the American citizen 
Cummings Cherry; and as said party possessing asks to convey 
these documents of proceedings to the Superior Political Prefector 
of the Department, this Commissioner-substitute, in the absence of 
the Seiior Sub-Prefector, in conformity with the Article 31st of the 
law of November of 1865, regulating the Administrative Depart- 
ment, and by the party concerned, remits the indicated papers of 
proceedings to the Seiior Superior Prefector for his final disposition. 

Moctezuma, May 12th of 1866. 

The Commissioner Municipal, r > — ' — ^ -j 

JOSE ZUBIAS. l^^ill 



Vicente Provencio, Official Surveyor appointed, certifies, iii 
the legal form, as follows, to-wit : 

I am acquainted with and have made measurement, as ordered, of 
the lands of "San Juan del Bio" and "Nacosari." In relation to 
the first named, it has been abandoned more than twenty-five years, 
for which reason its houses have almost entirely fallen to ruins. The 
mines of " San Patricio" and " Valenzuello" have been abandoned 
perhaps a little more than a year. The last named, I am informed, 
and the public say, has been abandoned over sixty years. The new 
real of the same name, " Nacosari," from what I understand, has 
been shortly abandoned. And in order that this may be used to the 
benefit of the party concerned, I present it in Moctezuma, the 12th 
of May of 1866. 



VICENTE PEOVENCIO. { "^j 



76 

Secretary General "i 

of the Department of Sonora. / UreS, MaT 19tH OF 1866. 

I certify that the preceding are correct copies of what they pro- 
fess, each folio having been marked with my seal. 

The Secretary General of Sonora, r ■ — ' — . -, 

\ SEAL, y 

Y. SEPULVEDA. ^^^.^^ 

Imperial Mexico. '\ 

Commissioner Municipal j- 

of Moctezuma. j MoCTEZUMA, MaY 12th OF 1866. 

By request of the American Citizen CuMMiNQS Cherry, as 
owner and proprietor of the lands of San Juan del Rio, you will 
notify the inhabitants of the pueblo not to trespass upon, nor carry 
away any of the elements of these lands measured in favor of the 
American Citizen Clmmings Cuerry, for thnj are the property of this 
Senor. The elements of which I speak are the water, lime, timber, 
and others, which are placed in the charge of Don Juan Avarez 
by the proprietor. 

God guard you many years! 
By the acting Sub-Prefector of the District, The Commissioner 
Municipal of Moctezuma. . 

JOSE ZUBIAS. f SEAL. I 

Senor Commissioner Municipal of San Yguacio, Oputo. •• ' ' ' 



Imperial Mexico. 
Superior Political Prefector 
of the Department of Sonora. ' 

Ures, May 19tu of 1866. 
Most Excellent Seuor: 

I remit to your Excellency two proper measures of denounce- 
ments of lands located in this Department. The one of San Juan 
del Rio, in the District of Moctezuma, is denounced in accordance 
with the concession made by the Government in March of 1857, of 
four leagues of the public estate, wherever found by the concerned 
party. This concession was granted to the American, C. Denman, 
who conceded his right to Edgar Conklino, who has empowered 
the American, Cummikgs Cherry, the denouncer. All this appears 
in the original documents in English and Spanish, which I have the 
honor to remit your Excellency. 

It is manifest from the publication of the denouncement in the 
" Periodico Oficial," in which it appears in the same form as the 
original accompanying, that the same conforms to law. There ia a 



77 

single opposition to the land of San Juan del Rio, by the SeSora 
TiNOCA ; but she did not pre&ent any title of property, nor appear 
before the political authority — as he represents — to make her protest 
or prove her rights, but contents herself with saying that she has lost 
her title and has occurred to the Minister to recover the title corre- 
sponding. Your Excellency will better determine what is convenient 
■ and proper in this particular. 

As the concession granted to Senor Denman expresses and orders 
only that the measuremenients be taken, in order to have the title cor^ 
responding made out and remitted without further delay, they are 
herewith remitted to your Excellency. The party denouncing 
has paid the just expenses of the survey, with the other correspond- 
ing ones that were incurred. In case the title is extended, your 
Excellency will please issue it in the name of 3Ir. Edgar Cojjklixg, 
who is the actual owner. 

With respect to the other Ranche of Nacosari in the same District, 
it also was denounced by the Seiior Cummixgs Cherry, American 
Citizen, as public land, under the same concession. The publication of 
denouncement requisite was made corrcetly. The documents relating 
to the matter and the denouncement expresses being made under the 
terms of a concession of the Senor Comonfort of 1857. He has no 
such concession to place upon it, the denouncer informs me ; but it 
was denounced solely as a matter of precaution by the Senor Cum- 
MiNGS Cherry. I owe it to remark to your Excellency that this 
Prefectura labors in complete obscurity in so far as relates to the 
legacies of your decrees. The recent laws and others which yet 
remain in force have been lost in the many revolutions, and during 
which many important documents have also been taken away. For 
this reason I remit all for the consideration of your Excellency. 
Accept, Your Excellency, my respects. 

The Prefector (Governor) of Sonora, r , — ' — . .. 

MARIANNA SALAZAR. i>f!^} 
Most Excellent Seiior Minister of Fomento, Mexico. 



Imperial Mexico. ") 

Superior Political Prefector I tt ,r 

of Sonora. j UreS, Mat 19tH OF 1866. 

The Seiior Cummings Cherry is bearer of a sealed package of 

papers, relating to certain lands in which he is the party concerned, 

addressed to the Minister of Fomento ; and in virtue of the peril of 



78 

the transit, I entrust them to him for deposit in the Post office of 
Guaymas, or other place which he may consider most sure or to the 
purpose, so that they may not be lost. 



The Secretary General of Sonora, 



Y SEP UL VEDA. 



< SEAL. I 



Post Office of I 
Guaymas. j 

The expressed Seiior Cherry has delivered at this Office for 
certification and franking a letter parcel for the Most Excellent 
Senor Minister of Fomento, the which to be despatched with care 
by the "Almirantc," which sails to day for Mazatlan. 
The Post Master General of Interior, 

JUXi- MORALES. 
Guaymas, June 9th of 1866. 



Guaymas, June IOtii of 1866. 
S. Don Jose Salazar Ylarrequi, Mexico. 
Very Dear Friend : 
Some days ago I addressed a long letter to you, which called to 
my memory many recollections of our old time friendship. And 
now I take the liberty to recommend to you by this note, 31r. Cu.m- 
MING8 Cherry, who has in hand business of importance with the 
Government concerning land concessions in this Department. 

The Seiior Cherry enjoys the best reputation, and his ac- 
knowledged ability' and industry will make him productive of great 
benefits to the country and to the lands which he solicits, and which 
now remain uncultivated and abandoned. 

I anticipate to give you thanks for the protection and support 
which I beg you to extend to this gentleman, that he may have the 
opportunity to carry into effect his very excellent designs. 

I repeat myself ever your afiectionate friend and servant, 
J. M. ASTIASARAN. 
Most Excellent Seiior Minister of Government, 
S. Don Jose Salazar Ylarrequi, 

Mexico. 



79 
MINi:S^G ESTIMATES ANI> STATISTICS, 

Cincinnati, 0, Aug. 20, 1866. 
To the Members of Cincinnati j- Sonora Mining Association. 

Gentlemen : — 

You desire items of expense in mining opera- 
tions in the Nevada (Virginia City and Grold Hill) silver mines, 
as compared with those which will be incurred on your property 
in Sonora, 

When Superintendents of mines in Virginia City and vicinity, 
Stamping and amalgamating of ores cost us $25 per ton ; labor 
$4 per day for miners, and $5 per day for mechanics ; lumber 
$80 to $120 per thousand feet ; timber 80 cents per square foot ; 
freight from Sacramento 6 to 8 cents per pound ; hauling ores 
to mills $3 to $5 per ton. The average yield of ores was $42 
per ton. 

In your mining operations, if governed by practical and ex- 
perienced managers, the reduction of ores by water power will 
cost $6 to $8 per ton, labor 59 cents to $lper day, and hauling 
ores to mill $1 50 to $2 per ton. The present rates of freight 
from Guaymas are 5 cents per pound; and timber is upon the 
ground, for all purposes. Food and forage can be procured on 
the ground. Respectfully, 

CUMMINGS CHERRY, 
JAMES CHERRY. 

ESTIMATE OF EXPENDITURE 

Necessary to place the San Juan del Rio property of Cincinnati 
^ Sonora Mining Association on a producing basis. 

Opening Mines, $20,000 

Making Roads to Mines, 4,000 

Erecting Dam and Flume, 40,000 

Erecting Mill and Beneticiating Works, 30,000 

Building Houses, 5JOOO 

Total in Gold, $99,000 

This estimate is placed at outside jfigures. 

CUMMINGS CHERRY, 

JAMES CHERRY. 

Cincinnati, Aug. 20, 1866. 



80 

PBOFITS OF SILVER MINING. 

Two fiicts — and " facts are stubborn things '" — are very con- 
clusive as to the profitableness of silver mining Companies : 

1. At the mining stock boards in the great commercial cities 
of the East and Europe, although hundreds of gold and copper 
and lead and coal mining stocks, are bought and sold, and 
gambled in, the stocks of well managed silver mining compa- 
nies are seldom, or never offered. The reason is, it pays better 
to hold them — so astonishingly large are the dividends, declared 
monthli/, and in gold coin. Such stocks do not often change 
hands, and are the choicest investments that can be made. 

2. The New York Evening Post, of August 14, 1866, has 
advertisements as follows : 

DIVIDENDS— AUGUST, 1S66. 

Yellow Jacket Silver Mining Company, §50 per foot. 

Hale & Norcross " " " S75 " 

Savage " " " $50 " 

Imperial " " " § 6 per share. 

All payable in gold on loth August, by Lees & Waller, 33 Pine Street, or 
Eugene Kelly & Co., 24 Nassau St. 

These are the very latest monthly dividends. The following 
table gives the product of bullion from 14 mines in the Washoe 
District, Nevada Territory, during about five months immedi- 
ately preceding May 1, 1865 : 

"Gould and Curry," $477,183 98 

"Yellow Jacket," 720,107 54 

"Savage," 005,233 40 

" Chollar," 440,000 00 

"Belcher," 314,130 00 

"Potosi," 308,120 92 

"Imperial," 201,344 55 

"Empire," 119,208 49 

"Confidence," 89,042 10 

"Ophir," 57,712 20 

"Eclipse," 55,568 05 

"Challenge," 51,799 44 

" Bacon," 41,989 07 

" Crown Point," 36,331 00 

The average yield of these 14 mines for the five months, is 
$251,269 34, or at the rate of $603,046 44 per annum each, in 
bullion, worth in United States currency on the 2'2d of August, 
1866, §826,173 62. 



81 

The total yield of the "Gould and Curry" mine, to July 1 
I860, was $14,500,000. ' J ' 

The "Savage Silver Mining Co." paid in 18()5 a net profit of 
43 per cent, per month on its actual capital paid in for develop- 
ment and improvements. 

The " North Star," in five months of 1864, paid a net profit 
of t240,000 in silver, from a 10 stamp mill, an average yield 
of 116,0 for each stamp. In 1866, the "Savage" is yielding 
$1400 per day in silver from a 10 stamp mill, an average of 
1140 per stamp. The ores on the San Juan del Rio property 
of the Cincinnati and Sonora Co. will enable them to make at 
least as good an average, which with the proposed 20-stamp 
mill, will reach $3,000 per day, or $900,000 per year. But the 
water power of this Company is so unlimited, and the ores so 
rich, so abundant and so easily mined, that 100 stamps can be 
erected and worked with comparatively small increased cost If 
the Valenzuello mine, on this property, when last worked, alone 
yielded $1,000,000 per year, with inefficient reduction processes 
that failed to abstract a considerable proportion of the precious 
metals, it is readily seen that $2,000,000 to $3,000,000 per year 
of bullion can be extracted from this property. Several 
mines in Nevada have 20-stamp mills, and one is doubling that 
number. 

The latest sales of the shares of the stocks of theseSilver Mining 
Companies at San Francisco on Sept. 8th, 1866, were at the 
lollowing extraordinary rates : 

Gould and Curry, 5^710 p^^ ^^^^^ ^^ ^^^^_ 

Yellow Jacket, 7.5 

Savage, j^^q 

Chollar, J4Q 

Imperial, 9g 

Empire, J20 

Oplur, 200 « 

Hale and Novcross, 1600 « tt 

The San Francisco ^^ Alta California'' newspaper of July 7 

18tb, m Its commercial leader, says : ' 

The late discoveries of ore in the Hale and Norcross have disclosed a vein 

30 feet wide of $50 ore, and extending 160 feet. The receipts of the 1.! h 

will be $100,000, against $65,000 for the month of uly 



8 

The developments of the Savage are better, and the June product 5130,000. 

The Crown Point also improves, and tlie receipts are $10o,0l)0 for June. 

The Gould and Curry gives for the monili of June $140,000. The yield for 
Bis months has been S3() 'JO per ton, at a cost of $12 12 per ton — §7 50 for 
raining; six months' yield, to June Ist, §908,119. 

The Imperial reports better prospects, and the receipts for June §61,000. 

The Yellow Jacket product of bullion for June is estimated at $260,000. 

Thus these six mines give at the rate of nearly §10,000,000 per annum ; 
and the expenses less and more regular than last year. * 



ASSAYS OF SURFACE ORES. . 

Assay of three specimens of the ores gathererl from the sur- 
face, or from rubbish heaps, of the San Patricio mines, by Mr. 
Cherry, assayed by Prof. E. S. Wayne, Analytical Chemist, 
Cincinnati, August 30, 1866 : 

No. 1—1,254 02., 2 dwt., 12 gr., |1,672 16, gold value, per ton of 2,000 lbs. 
No. 2— 16 oz.. 12 dwt., 12 gr., 22 03, " " " 

No. 3— 124 oz., 15 dwt., 165 00, " " " 

These results are their values in goW ; or, in United States 
currency, about $2,475, $32 50 and §245 respectively. 



Chemical Laboratory and Mining Office, 

138 Walnut St., Philadelphia, Sept. 5, 1866. 

Mr. Chas. C. Reakirt, 

Cincinnati, Ohio. 
Sir: — I have the honor to transmit herewith the result of 
analysis of sample of Copper ore marked " San Patricio," sub- 
mitted to me for examination. 

The said sample contains : Of Lead, 3.043 per cent. 

Of Copper, 66.06 " 
It also contains at the rate, per ton 

of 2,000 lbs. of Ore, Of Gold, A trace 

Of Silver, 26 oz., 16 dwt., 16 grs. 
Coin Value, §36 06. 

AUo^ the result of analysis of sample of Copper ore, marked 
" Don Eduardo," sent with the above for examination. 



83 

The said sample contains : Of Lead, 0.558 per cent. 

^, , Of Copper, 58.58 " 

it also contains at the rate, per ton 

f 2,000 lbs. of Ore, Of Gold, A trace. 

Of Silver, 19 oz., 5 dwt. 

Coin Value, $25 85. 
Respectfully, 

CHARLES P. WILLIAMS, 

Analytical Chemist and Metallurgist. 

FIEE ASSAYS OF ORES, 
Taken from the Valenzuello and San Patricio Mines, on San 
Juan del Rio Ranche, Sonora, Mexico : 

Valensuello. 

No. 1.— 1 oz. black quartz from top of excavation, contained at rate of 5J 
grs. metal per pound. 
6i grs., value 0.017875 Silver; 1 lb. : 2000 lbs. :: .017875=$35 75 
0.008285 Gold; 1 lb.: 2000 lbs.:: .008285= 16 57 

Yield per ton, |52 32 

No. 2.— 1 oz. from excavation 40 feet below surface, contained at rate of 
17.309 grs. metal per pound. 
17.309 grs , value 07343 Silver ; 1 lb. : 2000 lbs. :: .07343=$146 86. 
0.02171 Gold; 1 lb.: 2000 lbs.:: .02171= 48 42; 

Yield per ton, $190- 28: 

San Patricio. 

No. 1.— 1 oz. from vein outcrop on summit ridge, contained at rate of 6t92S 
grs. metal per pound. 
6.925 grs., value 0.023666 Silver; 1 lb. : 2000 lbs. :: .023666=|47 38 
0.013 Gold; 1 lb. : 2000 lbs. :: .013, = 26 00 

Yield per ton, |73 33 

No. 2.— 1 oz. from vein dutcrop on summit ridge, contained at rate of 20.06 
grs. per lb. 
20.06 grains, value 0.0865 Silver; 1 lb.: 2000 lbs. :: .0865=-fl73 00 
0.024 Gold; 1 lb.: 2000 lbs. :: .024 = 48 00 

Yield per ton, $221 00 

Accompanied by zinc, lead, antimony and arsenic, but quantities not de- 
termined. 

Cinco Sonores Wine, 
Fahlerz and Red Oxide, 46.5 per cent. Copper, $72 60 Silver per ton. 

J>on Juan Mine. 
Fahlerz and Red Oxide— 33.5 per cent. Copper, $51 50 Silver per ton. 
Zinc, and antimony, and traces of gold. 



84 

Dttn Etluardo Mine. 

Tetrahedrits— 37.S per cent. Copper, St56 30 Silver per ton. 

CuMMiNGS Cherry, 
James Cuerry. 

PitUburffh, Pa., August 31, 1806. 



EECAPITULATIOX. 
San Patricio. — Six samples of ore from this mine on tlie 
San Juan del Rio property were assayed by the eminent chem- 
ists named above, with the following comparative and aggregate 
results, per ton of 2000 lbs. 

Gold. Silver. 

By Prof. Watnk, No. 1, gold value, $1,672 16 

No. 2, " " 22 03 

No. 3, " " 165 00 

By Prof. Williams, No. 1, " " A trace. 36 06 

By Messrs. Cherry, No. 1, " " 26 00 47 33 

No. 2, " » 48 00 173 00 

$74 00 §2,115 58 

74 00 

$2,189 58 
An average of $364 93 to the ton of ore. 

Vahnziiello. — Only two samples of the ore from this mine 
have been assayed, both by Messrs. Cherry, and yielding to 
the ton of ore as follows, in gold or coin value : 

GoM. Silver. Total. 

No. 1, 16 57 35 75 52 32 

No. 2, 43 42 146 86 190 28 

$243 00 
Or an average, per ton, of $30 gold and $91 30 silver, or ?121 80 of both. 
Cinco Sonores, Don Juan^ and Don Eduardo. — These mines, 
it will be remembered, a\*e not on the property of the " Cincin- 
nati and Sonora Mining Association," but will be more or less 
dependent upon the water power on their property for benefici- 
ating their ores. The assays above, shows an average richness 
per ton, of ?53 79 in Silver, (coin value,) besides an average 
yield of Copper of 43.69 per cent., or 974 lbs. out of every 
2000 lbs. 



85 

SILVER MINES IN MEXICO. 

Senor Zambrano's two mines in 24 years yielded ^55,000,000, or 

per year $2,291,667 

The " San Dimas " in 25 years yielded over ^25,000,000, or per 

year, over ■_ 1,000,000 

The "Pavilion" yielded $20,000 per day, and divided per year 

over 6,000,000 

The "Gallego" in 6 years yielded $11,000,000, or per year 1,833,334 

The " San Avasco " in S years divided §54,000,000, or per year__ 18,000,000 
The "Santa Eulalia" in 32 years yielded $55,959,750, or per year 1,748,742 
The " Semprerate " paid in 7 months $5,000,000, or at the rate 

per year 8,571,429 

The average yield of these 8 mines, per year, was $4,930,646. 

These statistics are from the mining records of Mexico, and 
many of them are from the revenue tax or ''King's-fifth'* 
reports, and calculated from the tax actually paid — a reliability 
that will not be disputed in these days. This tax has long since 
ceased to be assessed. 



GENERAL REPORT, 

BY 

CUMMINGS CHERRY and JAMES CHERRY, 

Geologists and Mining Engineers. 



To the Members of the Cincinnati Mining and Land Asso^-ia- 
tion of Sonora, Mexico : 

Gentlemen : 

We arrived at Guaymas, Sonora, on the 10th of Decem- 
ber, 1865, and on the morning of the 13th took our depar- 
ture by stage for Hermosillo. Our short stay at Guaymas 
was sufficiently protracted to impress us with the important 
part it must play in the future of Sonora. The town is 
situated on the Gulf of Californii, in Latitude 27° 42' 
North. Its harbor is eminently the best on the Western 
Coast of Mexico, being much superior to either San Bias or 
Mazatlan; and because of the trade winds, particularly de* 
sirable as a port for the trades of the East Indies and China. 
The bay consists of an inner and outer one — in all fonr to 
five miles in length— almost completely sheltered from the 
winds by the bold bights of the Pajaros on the east, and 
the islands of Teira Firma, San Vicente and Petayas on the 
west, leaving the channel, narrow and deep, between them. 
Another entrance, Boc I Chica, occurs between Pajaros on 
the south and Cochin on the north. The tides are irresru- 
lar, being governed by the winds of the Gulf, seldom rising 
and falling more than fuur or five feet. The depth of water 

[* Portions of this Report, of little or no interest to the general reader, 
are omitted.] 



88 

is two fathoms at the mole, which is a very superior one, to 
eight fathoms in the channel. The town is surrounded by 
the irregular hids of the coast range, through which thcie 
is but one entrance from the land side. These hills, devoid 
of vegetation, give the town a dreary aspect ; it is small and 
of modern origin, containing one spacious street and several 
cross thorough liires. In 1820 to 1825, when a free port, a 
considerable business was transacted with foreign ports, and 
it was not uncommon to find twenty or more vessels loading 
and unloading at one time. This activity was prematurely 
checked by the internal strifes of the following five years, 
during which it lost over two-thirds of its population. Du- 
ring the years of 18' »0 to 1804 it received an impetus from 
the American mining and other enterprises; considerable 
capital was invested in town lots, and many improvements 
of a permanent character were inaugurated, giving to the 
town a population of over 5000, and the appearance and live 
awake air of a California mining town. The present unfor- 
tunate strife and the despotic incubus of a French garrison 
shaclded this new-born energy, and, at the present writing, 
Guaymas is in as fossilized a condition as need be. Were 
it not for the continual clanging of large and small bells 
with hoarse throats and shrieking voices, the daily occur- 
rence of a procession of saints, images and wax candles, the 
snarling of curs, the rioting of m irines from some foreign 
war vessel, and the occasional view of a native propping up 
a house, or picking vermin, we would have no out-door indi- 
cations from which to conclude the place was settled. With 
the native inhabitants, life seems to be a dolce far nienley or, 
more truly, wretchedness, filth and inanity. There are a 
number of fine structures of the architecture peculiar to this 
country, and a few of American pattern. The exports are 
the common products of the country — wheat, corn, flour, 



89 

cotton, tobacco, unrefined sugar, aguadiente, beef, hides, gold, 
silver and copper ; for which it imports the products of the 
more southern states, and East Indian and European manu- 
factures. Its exports of products and bidlion for 1865, could 
not have fallen short of |4,000,000, though, for the present 
year, it will hardly exceed half of this sum. The climate 
is pleasant from November to April; the heat in the sum- 
mer months, June to September, is excessive, the mercury 
reaching 105° to 110°, and very seldom falhng below 97° 
or 98°, and when the hot winds visit the town, as they often 
do during the summer months, it frequently reaches 135°. 
There is but little sickness, and what occurs is of a light 
character ; the water which supplies the town is procured from 
wells sunk at the limits of the town, and is slightly brack- 
ish, thoagh wholesome. With a harbor capable of giving 
good anchorage to two hundred vessels, safe navigation in 
the Gulf, and a section of country requiring only peace, en- 
terprise, capital and the energy of American settlers, to tiU 
the lands and work the mines which Mexican indolence has 
permitted to fall into ruin — with the indomitable spirit of 
American advancement, to make of an old country a new 
California — Guaymas is destined at no distant day to take 
her place as the grand commercial depot of Western Mexico, 
and, I would venture to predict, of our own extreme South 
Western Territories. 

EOAD TO HEKMOSILLO. 

In sixteen hours after our departure from Guaymas we 
were in Hermosillo, 38 leagues distant in a northerly direc- 
tion. The road follows an almost level plain, and is, perhaps, 
the best natural wagon route I have seen in any country. 
This plain is enclosed on either side by the most westeily of 
those foot ranges of the Sierra Madre, which rise in success- 
ive steppes over the face of Sonora as we proceed eastward, 



90 

each becoming more prominent, until the mother chain on 
the extreme eastern bordei's of the State is encountered. In 
many places this plain is 20 to 30 miles wide, with scarce a 
roll to interrupt its i-egularity. This stretch of country is 
ever dreaded by tiavelers on foot or horseback, being very 
destitute of water, and at this season of the year present- 
ing an uninviting prospect, with no vegetation but the thor- 
ny mesquit and palo verde devoid of leaf or blossom ; great 
stretches producing naught but the choya — a species of 
cactus, literally invulnerable with barbed pricldes. Occa- 
sionally there are patches of quicksand, which were once 
the beds of water courses. At four stations on the road 
water was to be had by paying for it : at Caballo. 5 leagues 
from Guaymas, is a well about 30 feet deep, containing very 
good water ; 10 leagues beyond at La Cieneguitta, is a well 
with a very limited supply, and a reservoir containing no 
water; at La Palma, 10 leagues from the last named place, 
we found a fair supply of water, in a reservoir substantial 
and quite spacious, and which could not have cost less than 
^5000 in its construction ; at La Posito, 7 leagues from 
Hermosillo, is a reservoir now dry, and a well with a limited 
supply. It is not an uncommon occurrence for all of these 
to fail. I am thus particular in describing this stretch, for 
though, on this my first journey over it, I was hurried 
along, I have since been obliged to mnke three trips over 
it on horseback, and when foul and rancid water seemed a 
beverage " fit for kings." 

All of these watering stations are stock ranches, and have 
extensive corrals connected with them. La Palma possessed 
2000 head of cattle, horses and mules; and la Posito not 
less than 6000. These cattle wander out on the plain du- 
ring the day and feed upon the sun-dried grass and the bean 
of the mesquit tree, and seek the corrals for water at night. 



91 



When the supply of water fails, they browse upon the choya 
plants, beneath whose barbed exterior is a pulp containing a 
secretion of water. The soil of the plain is -principally a 
red loam, heavily intermixed with the course grains of a de- 
composed feldspathic granite, washed in from the adjacent 
ranges by the torrents of the rainy season ; and this feld- 
spar having an alkahne basis, acts as a very valuable fertil- 
izer to such clayey soils. The only element needed to re- 
deem a great part of these lands from their present wild 
state, and make them as eminently adapted for cultivation 
as any I have seen in Sonora, is a sufficiency of water. In 
my more recent journeyings over the plain, I have looked 
into the nature and lay of the formations forming the en- 
closing elevations, and the order of occurrence of the plain 
strata; and I am very confident that through a system of 
artesian borings, prosecuted at certain favorable points 
throughout its length, a sufficiency of water for agricultural 
purposes may be obtained. And in this is a safe and profit- 
able adventure for enterprising spirits. 

HEEMOSILLO. 

The principal town, and among the most ancient in So- 
nora, is Hermosillo, formerly known as Petic. It is situated 
near the confluence of the San Miguel (or Dolores) and So- 
nora rivers which, however, in the dry season lose their 
waters in the quicksands just above the city, and do not 
again appear ; it being supposed that they have a subterra- 
neous passage to the Gulf This is a pecuharity of the riv- 
ers of Sonora— which, with two exceptions, the Yaqui and 
Mayo, are at the best but creeks— and is owing to the pecu- 
liar structure of their beds which run through loose quater- 
nary deposits; so when the waters reach these they sink in 
them and take their course underground, appearing only 
where the mountains close in upon them and throw the uu- 



92 

deriving older formations to the surface, or where ridges 
or dikes ci'oss tlieir course. Ilerinosillo is situated in a 
charming v Jley, four to five leagues in extent, and partly- 
surrounded by the Chenate hills on the west and "Ctrro de 
la Campana " on the east ; while on its skirts are the agi'i- 
cultural lands of San Juanico, Chino Gordo, and Chenate, 
and of the Ceres settlement on the south. Its population 
by the census of 1840 was 14,000, including 2,000 Yaqui 
Indians ; and on this, my fust visit, did not exceed 15,000. 
Hermosillois by fir the pleasantest town in Sonora; its 
streets are narrow, though there are several very good thor- 
oughfares, graced with many comfortable and a few elegant 
structures used as residences, and which are made yet more 
cheerful by enclosures devoted to the culture of fruit, vine 
and ornamental trees and shrubbery. There is no more de- 
lightful view than that which is presented in the summer 
season by the" blooming milpas adown the valleys, with their 
hedges golden with flowers and redolent with perfumes ; and 
the residences, of unique and antique appearance, nestling 
amid orange and fig groves and flowering shrubbery. Its 
business people are of a superior class, are wealthy and have 
a slight spice of business energy, almost imperceptible to be 
sure, but it is there. This is the more surprising because it 
is a virtue held in contempt by the Mexicans, as a nation or 
a people. The better classes are hospitable to foreigners, of 
whom I found quite a number here, principally French and 
Germans established in business. We arrived at an unfor- 
tunate time to secure any extended information ; it was very 
evident, however, that IlermosiUo had engrafted in her the 
true elements of progress and enterprise, though at this 
time shaclded by the misfortune of civil revolution. Situa- 
ted at a point whence diverge the several channels of com- 
munication with Upper Sonora, and also controfling an ex- 



93 

tensive agricultural section south, it must ever be the depot 
of commerce between these sections, and the port of exit and 
entry. It possessed four flouring mills, with capacity to 
turn out 300 barrels of flour per day, and several sugar 
houses in ^hich the native sugar {panoche) was manufac- 
tured from the cane. No effort worthy of note has yet 
been made at refining sugar, though the best American 
grades are used by the wealthier families, to meet which de- 
mand considerable quantities are shipped from San Francis- 
co and sold readily at 50 cents to $1 per pound. 

At San Miguel, fourteen leagues distant, is a cotton fic- 
tory, owned by merchants of Hermosillo, running 60 looms 
with a capacity of 25 yards to the loom per day, in manu- 
facturing a coarse and very inferior cotton fabric known as 
manta, a cloth almost universally used among the poor- 
er classes as their only apparel, and readily disposed of at 
the factory for 33 to 3 7^- cents per vara. This is the only 
estabhshment of the kind in Sonora, and I am informed the 
demand for its cloths exceeds the supply. There was also at 
Hermosillo an extensive wagon establishment, of which an 
American, Mr. Hale, was proprietor ; and the (rovernment 
mint, with machinery, presses, &c., from Philadelphia, under 
management of Messrs. Douglas & Simons. 

Valesco, writing in 1843, estimated the average annual 
yield of the agricultural products of Hermosillo at 64,000 
bushels of wheat, 270,000 bushels of corn, and 13,000 
bushels of other cereals, beans, lentiles, etc.; the annual pro- 
duct of the grape at 1500 barrels of aguadiente, as many 
of vinegar and but little wine, and the consumption of goods 
at about $800,000. It would be great injustice to accept 
these estimates as those of to-day, though I have no correct 
means of determining the amount of increase. Cotton has 
become a staple of the country ; sugar cane is now cultiva- 



94 

ted extensively and with good results, and tobacco is a 
profihible and productive crop. The culture of the vine has 
ever been a distinctive feature of this place, and it has 
yielded large gains, though only aguadiente is made from 
it, li'om a want of knowledge to manufacture wines and bran- 
dies. With such knowledge the gains would be infinitely 
greater. Fruits of very many varieties are ever iu abun- 
dance. 

DISTURBED TIMES. 

We were unfortunate in having our lot cast in Hermosillo 
in one of its periods of greatest trial. Its people were iik 
capable of anything but fear, and indifferent to anything but 
a desire to escape from impending dangers — and I thought 
not •without just reason. But a short time prior to our ar- 
rival, a Liberal force under a bandit leader had entered the 
city and committed many excesses, and were followed by the 
Imperials with similar action. Now we had positive infor- 
mation of a grand revolt of Mexican Imperials at Arispe, 
and the murder of their officers and march for this place ; 
of the approach of Garsea Morales (Cachora); of the pres- 
ence of a large force of Liberals or bandits — we knew not 
which, and they are generally identified with each other — at 
Magdalena on the Arizona road, and who also were concen- 
trating for an attack on this place ; and of revolters and 
Apaches nearer, committing terrible outrages ; and of the 
near presence of a French Imperial force from Guaymas, 
and a Mexican Imperial detachment from Alamos. These 
only were the authenticated intelligences of a day of mo- 
mentary rumors ; and with the Apaches without the city, 
and committing their terrible butcheries within its outer 
limits, the alarm occasioned may be imagined. The citi- 
zens and foreign residents were ordered under arms and 
obliged to comply. None seemed to know which of the 



95 

conteE ding forces was most to be dreaded. Some buried 
their treasure and sought retreats in the mountains, while 
those who had means of conveyance fled to the bordering 
states, or held themselves prepared to do so at a moment's 
notice. All this was, of course, in one sense, a matter of 
indifference to us ; but as a natural result of such alarm we 
met with the greatest difficulty in securing needed assistants 
for our further progress. And we were soon awakened to a 
degree of alarm by the unexpected and very exorbitant 
charges made; though in comparison to some after charges 
I have been led to believe that our alarm was premature. 
We were obliged to abandon many pre-conceived views and 
seeming necessities, and do without the desired escort. The 
city government insisted on forcing all to take up arms, and 
many on learning my destination and purposes were unwill- 
ing to take the hazardous journey. I could engage but two 
servants, a Mexican so deeply in debt that his friends would 
no longer support him, and an Indian who had had a difficul- 
ty with his connubial partner — agreeing to pay each $50 
per month, the Mexican furnishing his own animal for this 
sum. I thought myself very fortunate in securing these 
men. Because of unreasonable demands I refused to en- 
gage an interpretei-, successi\^ely at San Francisco, Mazat- 
lan and Guaymas ; and now we determined to dispense alto- 
gether with one, as we were enabled to do with safety 
from the fact that through study and an intimate contact 
with the people we were acquiring a sufficient knowledge ot 
the language for our purposes. Several times during our 
stay in the country we were obliged to pay interpreters 
when in communication with the Governor, though it was 
because of custom to exact such fees rather than necessity 
for their services. During these preparations we had our 
perplexities. We had been strongly of the determination to 



9G 

proceed direct to Magdalena and Calabasas in Arizona, in 
the vicinity of which latter place Pe^queira was said to have 
taken rel'u(]je. This determination now called for considera- 
tion. Numberless refugees (Americans and Europeans) 
were here from the dillerent sections of the countr}', but 
principally from the North ; and I was again afflicted with 
the tales of violence and the disinterested counsel which had 
greeted me Jit San Francisco, Mizatlan and Guaymas. That 
many deeds of violence had been committed by both Liber- 
al and Imperial was without doubt, and we had an opportu- 
nity to sympathize with many of the victims who had been 
stripped of everything — even their clothing — and left in 
a barren country, removed from settlements, amidst enemies 
and without food ; though I thought not a few had brought 
interference upon them by first interfering too freely with 
the peculiar institutions of the country, and for their inter* 
meddling were driven out. I did not imagine that these 
contesting parties — Liberal and Imperial — would so tar for- 
get policy as to offer any greater violence than the robbery 
of animals, arms and money ; and found that civil demeanor 
and a silent tongue were much better preventives of inter- 
ference than boisterous acquiescence. While these tales of 
violence and the troubles and dangers which encompassed us 
did not alter my determination to continue on, it had the 
effect of discouraging a number who had come thus far with 
the view of continuing through to Arizona from proceeding 
farther, and we were deprived of their expected company. 
A railroad surveying party of twenty — principally Ameri- 
cans — had been up in the country with the view of contin- 
uing into Texas ; but abandoned the expedition through fear 
of Indians. It was very evident that I could not get 
through to Calabasas with my animals, arms or money, and 
without them I was powerless ; and, as there was a bare pos- 



97 



sibUity that I might get aromd the contendino- forces on 
the Sanora river by keeping to mountain trails, I deter- 
mmedto proceed to Ures, and thence Mow the mountain 
chains north. It was the only other route known to me by 
which I might reach Arizona; besides, I wLs informed it 
led me through the most interesting mineral district in the 
fetate. I secured only three animals— two horses and a 
mule, very superior animals, as in our after travel they 
proved. I required an animal for packing, but dangers were 
becoming so imminent here that I dare delay no longer- so 
on the ISfch, accompanied by only two servants, my assis- 
ten and self started forth, with many misgivings as to the 
hnal result of our extremely hazardous undertakino- 

TOPAHUE. 

_ Nine leagues from HermosiUo, and ou the Sonora riyer 
IS Topahue, the hacienda of Gandaea, former Governor of 
Sonora and whom Pesqcbiea displaced, obliging him to seek 
refi>ge m Cahfornia Since the advent of Im°perialism he 
has returned, and perhaps wields more influence for the Im.- 
penal cause to-day than any single individual in the State. 
ihe Ex-Governor was absent on our an-ival, but we were 
warmly welcomed by his son, who insisted that we should be 
bi guests dunug the night. We could discern stern pov! 
er y strugghng through hospitality, and Idndly declined. 
This hacienda is, with the exception of those of La Labor 
and Alameda near HermosiUo, the most extensive and 

Es r " *' ' -^'^ '* '^ """ '^ P'"'"- »f -'■'«" evas' 
to wreak the" rfT''' '''" '''""" ^^ t^e Liberal party 
to wreak their hatred upon it. But in the defaced buildings 
crumbhng mills, partially-destroyed hedges and ruin dTct 

rfecfa ! ,e. . ' r ""^' '"' '""^ "'S"^' ^* S -n Jose 
Giacia, a league beyond, a dilapidated and almost desert- 



98 

ed town, but formerly a noted mining center, and where the 
reduction haciendas of a large mining district were located, 
as is evidenced by the extensive deposits of slag and the 
ruined furnaces on the river banks. 

SAN JOSE DE GRACIA. 

The mines of San Jose de Gracia occur in the bold sier- 
ras east of the settlement. We have scarcely anything 
from which to judge of them but such items as tradition 
gives us, as through abandonment and the ravages of gam- 
bucinos their openings have become closed: in tradition, 
however, they are highly celebrated for their richness. The 
locality of Los Preciados is known, and some twenty 
3'ears ago considerable treasure was taken from it by gam- 
bucinos, who, while extracting it, lived a precarious existence 
Avith the Apaches. The San Jose mine, known also as the 
Carumina, was operated fifty or more years ago by a Span- 
iard, who removed the water from the old workings and suc- 
ceeded in taking out a lump of ore weighing several arrobas 
(25 pounds), which yielded 112 ounces (14 marcs) of pure 
silver, when his pumping apparatus broke, and in several 
hours the mine refilled with water, and the explorer did not 
have sufficient means to secure the additional pumping ma- 
chinery required. But a few years ago a company, com- 
posed princi[ially of Mexicans, was formed to work the mine, 
actuated by the r( suit of the Spaniard's attempt, combined 
with the statements of the old inhabitants that, when aban- 
doned, virgin silver was being taken from its vein and its 
ores yielded li- marcs (12 ounces) to the arroba. They 
sank a vertical shaft 210 feet, and supposing they were be- 
low the old workings, ran a front oon 40 feet towards the 
•vein and into the old workings, when, the members of the 
association becoming dissatisfied with each other, the enter- 
prise was abandoned. It wou'd seem that this was one of 



99 

those enterprises made unfortunate by incapacity and griev- 
ous errors in management, and abandoned when the reali- 
zation of hopes was almost attamed. The openings had 
again filled with water during the suspension of operations, 
and I did not see its lower workings ; yet I learned sufficient 
to satisfy me of the value of the mine. The vein occurs 
near the principal line of contact between the secondary 
stratified, prior to the uplift of this region and the hypogene 
masses of the period of elevation. The vein matrix is 
caliche, a gray, earthy and sometimes ferruginous deposit, 
and a silicious clay, with barytes. The ores are the horn 
silver, accompanied by native silver, and sometimes, though 
not frequently, with bromide of silver. From my investi- 
gations I formed a very favorable opinion of this mine, and 
I think that 30 or not more than 40 feet additional depth 
in its vertical sin ft would place it below the abandoned 
workings ; so it would require but a small sum to thoroughly 
test it. 

On the next morning, shortly after leaving San Jose, we 
came upon a place on the roadside where a poor fellow (a 
native) had been shot dead during the night or at an early 
hour in the morning by a lurking foe. It was supposed that 
Apaches or bandits did the deed, though neither inquiry nor 
pursuit were thought of We crossed and recrossed the 
Sonora river many times during the day, and passed several 
haciendas and arable plats, some of considerable extent. 

URES. 

Ures, the present capital of Sonora, is picturesquely situ- 
ated in a valley of considerable extent on the Sonora river, 
and is entered through a delightful avenue several miles 
in length, shaded by stately elms, maples and cottonwoods. 
In the environs are the extensive haciendas of Santa Rita, 
Guadalupe, Molino and Realit.i, and others, the soils of which 



100 

are very fertile, producing the cerefils. sugar, cotton, tobacco, 
fruits, &c. These lands are subject to overflows, which are 
beneficial, acting as fertilizers, though they sometimes extend 
to the streets of the to\Yn, threatening it wiih inundation. 
The town in itself has nothing to attract the seeker of the 
strange and curious; it is pretty and quiet in its rural re- 
tirement, has regular streets, closely built on either side, 
with residences not elegant, but possessing an air of comfort. 
The inhabitants are the best models of indolence, patience, 
poverty and good nature I have seen; they may have been 
schooled to this by the several bombardments which have 
defaced many of the buildings with bullet marks, and by 
the knowledge that they are ever an easy and helpless prey 
to Liberal, Imperial, Apache or bandit. Ures was the for- 
mer letreat of the elite of Sonora, who sought it for its 
tournaments, church processions, bull fights, and other di- 
vertisements, to while away the days and get rid of their 
surplus bullion ; then, it was only the gay and happy and 
rich who gathered within its shelter. Many of these old- 
time visitors }'et come, but they come as the survivors of 
frontier towns who have witnessed the slaughter of their 
lamilies and friends and the destruction of their property by 
the Apaches, and have fled from their ravages, or, often, 
li-om the merciless persecutions of their own people. Its 
population numbers about 5,000. The climate during the 
winter is genial ; in the summer months it is hot, and this 
section is often visited by scorching winds, which penetrate 
every nook, and make life almost unbearable. 

The s'ate of aflairs in Ures was not more satisf ;ctory than 
in Hermosillo, though the citizens did not seem to h ive the 
same interest in the result. We could get no definite infor- 
mation concerning the condition of the road before us, 
though there was no scarcit)^ of rumors. An Imperial Mex- 
ican force was stationed in the town, under command of Col. 



101 

Salvador Yasquez, commander-in chief of the forces in So- 
nora; and we called upon him without delay. He declined 
to grant us either an escort or a pass beyond his lines, and 
pleasantly vouchsafed the information that " did he meet us 
on the road beyond the town, it would be his duty to reheve 
us of our weapons and arms, that they might not fall into 
the hands of the enemy, though while within his lines we 
were safe from molestation." Discouraging as was this in- 
telligence, we secured a pack mule and a few needed sup- 
plies, and on the 21st left, with the view of following up the 
Sonora river. 

CAJON DE URES. 

Three leagues from Ures is the hacienda of Puerta del 
Sol, and but a short distance above we entered the " Cajon 
de Ures," through which the waters of the Sonora wind 
their dubious way. This canon is three leagues in length, 
hemmed in on either side by lofty mountain ridges, which 
in many places came up so closely as to leave but a narrow 
water eourse between solid and precipitous granite walls 
that shut out the sun-light and make the passage dark, 
gloomy and forbidding. Dense thickets of mesquit" chapar- 
ral cover the mountain sides whei^e they do not f Jl precipi- 
tously away, and huge bowlders are suspended seemingly on 
crumbhng points, waiting but for a wiUing hand to send them 
laden with destruction into the narrow gorges below. No 
place is more grand, none need be more wild. But a few 
years ago— not over twenty— this was the favorite haunt of 
the Apache and bandit ; and it has been the scene of many 
combats, the victims of which found graves beneath arching 
chffs or under piles of loose rocks thrown up by thoughtless 
hands. Even at this late day deeds of violence are of al- 
most daily occurrence, and the traveler reaches the terminus 
of the caiion with a feeling of intense relief And as if to 



102 

give intensity to ouv thoughts, when in the middle of the 
canon we stuinbled upon the carcasses of a number of cattle, 
which, with their drivers, several in number, were butchereil 
only the day previous by Apaches. The men were laid out 
under some shiubbery, and covered from view with brush and 
grass. I was surprised in noting the frequency of rock 
piles on the road from Ures. I counted twenty-nine in a 
distance of nine miles, and have seen as many in a league. 
These are ever a feature on the trails in Sonera, occurring 
with frightful frequency ; they mark the graves of those 
who have died violent deaths. 

CACHOEA. 

On leaving the caiion we met several parties of refugees, 
fleeing from their homes to Ures, and learned from them 
that the advance of Caciiora's Liberal force was a number 
of leagues above, coming down the river, sacking towns and 
haciendas, and destroying produce and cattle. At Puerto- 
cito, ten leagues from Ures, we came suddenly upon some 
fifty of them, seemingly taking them by surprise; and while 
they made such movements as manifested an intention to 
surround and attack us, we lost no time in retracing our 
course, following a mountain trail a part of the way to avoid 
the scouting parties whom we suspected might be on the 
river road. We reached Ures the same evening, having 
journeyed twenty leagues and crossed and recrossed the So- 
nera river 130 times. On the following morning the Im- 
perial army officers favored us with the intelligence that a 
party of thirty Imperial cavalry had been despatched after 
us, with instructions to overtake us and secure our animals 
and weapons. We could only have escaped them by taking 
the mountain trail. We were not disheartened by our fail- 
ures, and, learning of an Apache trail which pursued the 
mountain range e.ist of the Sonora Valley, we determined 



103 

to follow it, and secured two Oputo Indian guides to accom- 
pany us a single day, to point out the trail to the mountain 
summit. When we were on the eve of starting they de- 
manded the sum of thirty-two dollars for an outfit alone. I 
did not accede to the demand, and leal-ned afterward that 
had we taken this trail we would have fallen into the meshes 
of those we desired to escape from. 

WITH IMPERIAL FORCES. 

We determined to venture forth on the only untried way, 
viz : to Matape, a dav's journey to the east, and thence to 
Tepache, Oposura and Fronteras. But a few hours before 
our departure, however, intelligence came that the forces 
stationed there had revolted, and were sacking and destroy- 
ing almost to Tires. Then we learned that Colonel Vasquez 
would leave with his force on the following morning to give 
battle to Cachora at Puertocito, Acting on this intelligence, 
I requested the Colonel and his principal officers to honor 
me with their presence to supper. They gladly accepted, 
and herein I found the vulnerable point in Mexican charac- 
ter. Before we parted for the night it was understood, that 
we should accompany the Colonel and his force to Puerto- 
cito, to witness the battle; with permission to continue on, did 
circumstances permit, and I had a letter from the Colonel to 
commanders of Imperial forces in the State, recommending 
us to their consideration, and to a pass through their lines 
without molestation ; though, in this connection, the Colonel 
was honest enough to advise us to avoid, if possible, the 
forces of either party, if we desired to retain our arms and 
animals, giving us in explanation a forcible though not very 
favorable view of the status of Imperial and Liberal. 

On the morning of the 24th we retraced our steps up the 
Sonora river, this time in the van of the Imperial army. 
When six or seven leagues out, scouts brought the intell>- 



104 

genre that Caciioea had passed over the Oposnra trail, and 
was but two miles distant, moving in a course by which he 
could either lull upon Ures or reach Matape. By an hour's 
march Vasquez could have forced his enemy to the battle 
he had so much desij-ed ; but, for the moment, his troops were 
panic-stricken, and he determined to proceed on to Puerto- 
cito, and there await reinforcements. Taking advantage of 
this panic, and with the momentary consent of the ColoueL, 
we struck off in an east course to intercept the trail to Op- 
ura, now free from the enemy. We were congratulating 
ourselves on our esc ape, when a party of twenty-five Imperial 
cavalry filed across the trail in advance, and presented a re- 
quest from Vasquez for us to return and see him at Puertocito. 
We could only comply, though with misgivings. We found 
his forces distributed as for battle, and he had learned addi- 
tional particulars concerning the roads ^ though we could 
not perceive wherein they particularly interested us. It 
appears that the impression had gotten abroad among his 
not over-zealous soldiers that we had espoused their cause — 
and these people have astonishing faith in the fighting qual- 
ities pf Americans — and our disappearance caused tliem to 
believe that we had gone over to their enemy, Cachora. To 
remove fear and allay excitement we were recalled, and would 
likely be retained. We were careful to pitch our camp be- 
yond the picket lines without exciting suspicion, and again 
tried the supper dodge, so successful at Ures, but this tame 
with a different purpose in view. The result you will know 
when I remark that at 9 o'clock we quietly saddled up and 
stole cautiously away, happily without causing alarm, and 
rode hastily for Babiacora, seven leagues distant, where we 
arrived in the middle of the night. The people of this place 
imagined we were of the contending forces, and it was only 
when w^e resorted to threatening that they gave us shelter* 
On the 25th we reached Ileupaca, eight leagues distant. 



105 

where we found refage in the ruins of a deserted nunnery. 
There was much to interest us in this necessarily hurried 
ride up the Sonora, had we been in a position to tarry and 
investigate and enjoy. Everywhere on the road were visible 
the ravages of civil and barbarous warfare, and terror, mis- 
ery and the haggard aspect of want were visible in the few 
faces which were seen stealthily peering at us from desolate 
haciendas or hidden coverts in the mesquit chaparial. Heu- 
paca had been eleven times in the hands of the contestants 
in the past month, and the ranches in the neighborhood 
were stripped of animals, grain and the necessaries on which 
the people depended for subsistence, and such things as could 
not be carried away had been destroyed. The people were of 
a better class than is usually found in the frontier towns, in- 
telligent and to an extent educated. Dr. Edmunlson, an 
American resident, called upon us; it was the first opportu- 
nity he had had to speak in his own language for a year. 
He was in poverty, and related his experience. His animals, 
arms and money were taken from him five several times; 
he had been a prisoner of both parties ; was tied up and 
ordered shot by the Liberals, and forced to stand in the van 
of the Imperials during a battle; his only desire was to es- 
cape from the country, and this he could not do, as both 
parties were his foes. 

SONORA RIVER AND VALLEY. 

In this ride up the Sonora river and valley I beheld suf- 
ficient to have me desire to make a more careliil investiga- 
tion. In later wanderings I learned some of the facts which 
are here given. The river Sonora is next in importance to 
the Yaqui, Mayo and Fuerte, though it calls for quite a 
stretch of imagination to conjure it into a stream of suffi- 
cient extent to deserve the appellation of river. It has its 
rise in the mountain ranges near the Arizona line, where we 



106 

find it f trmeil of branches. Bolow the presidio of Buciiachi 
the braiK'hes unite, and the stream thus formed flows in a 
southerly and south-westerly course, until its waters are lost 
in Siete Cerritos, west of Hermosi lo. In the cajon of Arispe, 
below the town, it forms a considerable stream, and so also 
in the cajon of Ures. At intermediate points much of the 
waters lose themselves to view in the loose river beds, or are 
carried from their natural channel in aceqnias, to irrigate 
the agricultural lands. The river is confined in its course 
by parallel steppes of the Sierra Madre, which are lofty and 
precipitous even to sublimity. These steppes or ranges are 
successively the third and fourth from the mother chain — 
the intervening ones being the San Juan del Rio and Naco- 
sari ranges — and are bolder and more prominent than the 
parallel ones occurring farther west, and not so much so as 
the eastern ones After leaving the c ijon of Ures, in com- 
ing up, there are bottom lands bordering the river, which are 
of considerable extent and surpassing fertility. This is con- 
sidered by some authorities to be the garden of Sonora, 
though it would perhaps be doing injustice to other fertile 
sections to give it such a [)roud distinction. The ranges on 
either side of the valley are eminently metalliferous in char- 
acter, and among the most interesting of Sonera's mineral 
regions. Lespite the investigations of many years and the 
expenditure of labor and capital — which in numberless cases, 
howev.^r, has been munificently returned — little that is jor«c- 
Ucally beneficial has been determined. 

Besides the settlements which I have already named are 
the towns of Ban imachi, Siniquipe, Babicanora, Arispe and 
Bacuachi, and many large haciendas. The entire popula- 
tion of the valley, on this my first visit, I estimated at 
about 3,000. There are abundant indications from the 
ruined reals and haciendas, the crumbling walls of churches, 
fortresses, reduction haciendas and ranches, the acequias 



107 

that once supplied irrigation, and the now untrodden pack- 
trails winding around the mountain hights, that at a distant 
day it had been very populous; but with the expuision of the 
Jesuits and the continued inroads of the Apaches came the 
ruin and desolation now everywhere visible. 

BABIACOEA AND HEUPACA MINES. 

The mines of San Jose de Gracia have been mentioned. 
In the elevations surroundmg Babiacora and lieupaca are to 
be seen the old workings of mines, now filled in with debris 
or long since brought to ruin by the destructive hands of 
gambucinos; and regarding which the searcher can learn 
nothing beyond what he may see of the surrounding forma- 
tions, the regularity of the vein walls, and the seeming mode 
of occurrence of the veins and chaiacter of ores, and 
mayhap the ruins of furnaces and arrastres. Not even a 
speck of the poorer ores may be found in the debris, which 
has been searched over many times by the gambucinos. 
Tradition, however, is fluent as to the former history of these 
abandoned localities, and every little settlement has its well- 
preserved tales of the notable features of its own neighbor- 
hood. In them is a fund of valuable information not other- 
wise attainable, many times clogged by superstition, rumor 
or fancy ; though by continued questionings or a perconal 
comparison of facts, they may be recognized and sifted from 
the truth. Two leagues above the ancient hacienda of Con- 
ception, in a rounded hill west of the river, are a number of 
mineral veins occurring in a felcfspathic porphyry and of 
limited width. But one has been worked to any extent, the 
metals producing a marc to a marc and a half per c ,rga of 
300 lbs. It was abandoned because of Apache depreda- 
tions, and is now only visited occasionally by gambucinos. 

In the immediate vicinity of Bibiacora is an abandoned 
mine — supposed to be Dolores — seemingly once extensively 



108 

worked ; its ores produced as high as two to three marcs per 
carga, and, in character, were the resultants of the chemical 
changes in the deeper sulphuveted ores, and were easily 
smelted. There are other ancient openings, deposits of debris 
and slag, though I could ascertain nothing definite concern- 
ins their occurrence. The ancient excavations in the CeiTO 
Gordo are yet visible ; the vein is found in a lofty ridge, 
and the first openings were seemingly made from the out- 
crop. Much debris h ;d fallen into the old openings, and 
where not filled they were in such a fr.iil condition that we 
did not attempt the descent. That these openings were ex- 
tensive and to considerable de[)th would appear from the 
immense banks of debris surrounding them. The vein 
seems to have been very irregular, var}'ing from a few inches 
to several feet in width, with the ores occurring in pockets 
connected by strings of the metals ; they were the changed 
forms of the sulphurets. The mine is siid to have yielded 
largely. It was first abandoned because of Apache depre- 
dations ; parties have since made efforts to reopen it, but 
through the same causes they did not succeed. 

The San Filepe, a little to the south-east of Heupaca, is 
yet pointed out as a mine of wonderful liehness ; it is said 
that when abandoned because of the frequent butcheries of 
its miners b}^ the Apaches, it was producing pure silver in 
its lower galleries, while its ores were astonishingly lich in 
gold and silver. Three several attempts were made to clear 
away the debris which hi^l entirely filled its openings, but 
without success, through want of sufllcieut funds. 

BAXAMACHI MINE. 

The Banamachi mine is two and a half leagues north east 
of Ban imachi, and is referred to by modern authorities as 
" the richest mine discovered in late years." I think it de- 
serves the appellation. The mine was first successfully ope- 



109 

rated some ten years ago. In developing it the discoverer 
impoverished himself and those of his friends who had faith 
in him ; and when on the eve of being forced to abandon it 
for want of money, he struck metals so rich and abundant 
as to make him exceedingly wealthy in a few months. It 
was said by those who should know, that over two millions 
of doUars were taken from it the first year. Since the death 
of the discoverer, which occurred several years ago, the ores 
have been worked on shares, being extracted and taken to 
Banamachi'to be reduced, and giving lar2;e Teturns to the 
workers— so large indeed that the present owner (widow of 
the former proprietor) has determined to discontinue this 
method of working. She informed me that for an expendi- 
ture of less than |2,000 in conducting the mining operations 
the past year she secured a return of |10,000, and that in 
the same proportion has been the result for several years. 
The location is a lofty mountain, and the outcrop is bold. 
The vein has been opencast from its crest to a depth of 150 
feet, and this cut extends through the mountain. The pres- 
ent operations are carried on through an incline tunnel, 200 
feet in length, below which four labors are opened in the 
vein. The deepest opening is 100 feet below the bottom of 
the inchne. The encasing formation is a feldspathic granite. 
The vein is strong and well defined, with a gangue of ferru- 
ginous quartz ; it is about eight feet wide, and its ores are 
gold and silver sulphurets. Near the surface the gold was 
very abundant, though at the present depth silver predomi- 
nates. The ores are well disseminated throughout the vein 
matrix, and are rich in lay, quantities of the vein material 
having yielded returns of $i,500 to |2,000 per ton. Two 
of the labors are in excellent rock ; the others contain aver- 
age ores in abundance, and large quantities of ores were on 
the surface awaiting reduction. The merits of this mine are 
its well-defined vein, abundant and rich metais of simple 



110 

oluir .ctiT for handling, and advantages for operating cheaply 
and successrully. I consider it in these views the best mine 
in the Sonora ranges. 

BABICAXOEA MINE. 

Babioanora, one of the most noted mining districts in So- 
nora, occurs in the sierra east of the ^Sonora river, and four 
leagues irom Siniquipe. The mine of Babicanora was first 
opened and worked by Don Alfjo Conde, who, on finding 
its ores veiy rich, established a large hacienda for their re- 
duction below Siniquipe. lie worked the vein until the 
sulphuret ores were re.iched, and being unable to beneficiate 
them he abandoned the mine. It was shortly after de- 
nounced by Don Salvador Moreno, who discovered a ho- 
nanzo of surpassing richness, which he continued to work 
until his death. It was now abandoned for some time, even 
by ganibucinos, on account of the continued inro.ids of the 
Apaches ; and some years since was taken hold of by the 
Camou Brothers, and other wealthy merchants of Hermosillo. 
They ran a socaban (tunnel), eight feet by seven feet, from 
the base of the hill, with a view to cut and intersect the 
vein below the lower workings. In the lapse of five years, 
and when they had attained a distance of 500 varas, they 
discovered that they had run through the vein and beyond 
it a distance of 250 varas. There are three lahors, respcc- 
tivel}^ 20, 40 and 60 feet below the tunnel; though the ven- 
tilation is so imperfect that it is impossible to prosecute work 
in them. The vein is about five feet wide, the ore black 
sulphurets, and of a fliir lay. The machinery for beneficia- 
ting works had been purchased, and a portion of it was at 
the mine, though no efibrt had been made to erect it. Work 
on the mine was suspended in December, in consequence of 
the civil strifes, and no effort has since been made to resume. 
In the management here, immense sums have betn squan- 



Ill 

dered through folly and ignorance, and the operations will 
ever be attended by heavy expense. 

EL CARMAN MIIS^E. 

El Carman occurs on the opposite side of the mountain ; 
it has been worked extensively and is celebrated for its 
richness. The matrix is quartz, heavily disseminated with 
native silver and ores of "silver — black sulphuret with gray 
sulphuret — in the deepest openings. It is one of the most 
ancient and extensively worked mines in the State ; and 
tradition has it that when given up, large amounts of Ufitive 
silver were being taken from it. The discoverers abandoned 
it with the departure of the Spaniards, taking wi h them 
their riches ; and for many years it was worked solely by 
gambucinos, who ruined the old workings by removing the 
pillars. In later years it was reopened, and large qi antities 
of native silver and valuable ores taken from it ; the ores 
yielding as high as six marcs to the carga of 300 lbs. 

There are also in this mineral the ancient mines of Gran- 
adito, Esperito Santo, Vermosira, San Francisco, Gehas, 
Philetas, Mina del Clavo, and many others, a few of which 
have merit. In the vicinity of Arispe there are a number 
of ancient mines, the most noted of which occur in the 
sierra San Pedro ; they have, however, been so long aban- 
doned that tradition has ceased to be a means of informa- 
tion concerning them. 

TO CFMPAS. 

On the evening of the day of our arrival at Heupaca in- 
telligence came that Janori, an Imperial Indian, with soA^eral 
hundred Oputo Indians were in the vicinity of the town, 
marching upon it Of this officer we had been particularly 
cautioned by Vasqcez and his officers, who advised us to 
avoid him at all hazards; and to do this there w;is but one 



112 

door of escape. An indistinct trail crossed the mountain 
ranges east to Cumpas, on the Oposura river. The trail 
was infested by Apaches, and considered so dangerous as to 
be traveled only by laige parties, and even then in the night- 
We required guides to point out the trail, but could not get 
them , so on the morning of the 26th we started forth alone? 
and happily struck the trail and succeeded in following it. 
We found it anything but a good* one, the ascents and de- 
scents of the mmuitains being very precipitous; and sever- 
al time?, as if by interposition, we were made aware of the 
presence of skulking enemies in time to avoid them, or pre- 
pare for an encounter which could but terminate fatally to us. 
We were glad, after a wearying and watchful ride, to reach 
Cumpas in the night. Two le.igues from this place our trail 
led us thioiigh a beautiful valley, the site of two Indian 
massacres, the victims of the first numbering 30, and of the 
other over 40. Over 200 persons in all have been Idlled by 
Apaches on this trail, within the memory of man. 

CUMPAS. 

Cumpas WIS for the time above and removed from the 
field of contest of Imperial and Liberal, and promised to 
have a much needed rest from the terrors of war, though I 
Ibund the government of the civil affairs here and in the 
neighboring country solely in the hands of the Imperials. 
I had become so familiar with the importance of this region, 
in a mineral and even in an agricultural view, that I deter- 
mined to make some investigation into its merits before pro- 
ceeding farther; and as Cumpas was in a central position 
in relation to the most noted mining districts, and so situa- 
ted that I could draw needed supplies from it, and make 
short excursions, I made it my head-quarters for the time. 

OPOSURA KIVER AXD VALLEY. 

The Oposura river, on which Cumpas is situated, is a 



113 

branch of the Yaqui ; it is one of the considerable streams 
of Sonora Alta, and has its rise in the elevated ranges near 
Fronteras, whence it flows through the valley and caiion of 
Nacosari until it disappears in the quaterniry at the head of 
the main valley. Its waters strike the granitic beds just 
above the hacienda of Ojo de Agua, a league above Cumpas, 
and continue in a south -easterly course, intersecting the 
Yaqui river below the town of Suaqui, in latitude 29° 42', 
longitude 109° 20'. On either side are parallel mountain 
ranges, high and lofty, the intervals between which are 
plains having a gradual descent until the river bottoms are 
intersected. This Oposura valley, varying in width from 
one to six leagues, is not as extensive as the Sonora on the 
west, or the Yaqui on the east ; though it is noted for its 
exceeding fertility, and adaptability to the production of ce- 
reals,_ cotton, sugar cane, and tobacco of superior grades. 
Though now of Hmited note as regards its settlements and 
. agricultural products, it was, without doubt, in a very ad- 
vanced and flourishing condition before the expulsion of the 
Jesuits ; more so, perhaps, than any portion of the State ex- 
cept the San Juan del. Rio section on the Yaqui river. 

Bourne, writing of this valley in 182 G, mentions ten towns 
with a population of 10,600 souls, and an annual product of 
20,000 fanegas of grain, 180,000 lbs. brown sugar in cak es 
105,000 lbs. soap, 2000 horses, 4000 blankets, and other 
items. At this time (January, 1866,) its towns and popu- 
lations were as follows : Batuc, 100; Tepache, 200; Opo- 
sura, 1,000; Jacori, 100 ; Cumpas, 500 ; Ojo de Agua,50 ; 
other haciendas, 100; in all 2,050; and its products were 
not even in a similar ratio, for in all of these places there 
were at least 17 females to every male, and in one place the 
proportion stood 29 to 1. The cause of this alarming con- 
dition of these people may be found in the fact that this 
(8) 



114 

valley has sufferetl, and is suffering, very severely from 
Apache depredations — not a single day passing but what 
they make their appearance at some point in it. Its people 
have also sutiered very severely in the present strifes of 
Liberal and Imperial, Cumpas alone having lost not less than 
200 men in this w;iy, and the other towns in proportion. 

TEPACHE AND OPOSURA MINES. 

In the vicinity of Tepache occur a number of old openings 
of limited extent, and vein outcrops carrying surface indi- 
cations of copper and silver — a fahlerz ore — and deserving 
move extended investigation. Near Oposura are the Toin- 
babe gold placers, and near Cumpas and Jacori others, which 
yielded well but are not now worked on account of the 
Apaches. A number of abandoned and debris-filled openings 
are in the hills surrounding Oposura, though nothing satis- 
factory is known of their former history. One, in particu- 
lar, is shown as h iving been covered over by Apaches to 
hide its existence, so rich had it proved ; it has the appear- 
ance of being artificially covered over. 

TALCOSE DEPOSIT. 

In this vicinity is the most wonderful deposit of talc 
of a steatite species I have seen. It occurs in an im- 
mense mass whose extent has never been determined — with 
neither stratified parting nor cleavage, and is most ex- 
quisitely variegated. Considerable quantities of it were 
taken iiway for the manufacture of ornaments ; and many 
articles of furniture were made fi'om it, some of which graced 
the gubernatorial mansion in Ures. It is of a very fine 
texture, may be sawed out in blocks of any desired size, and 
turned in a lathe, or formed into tubes by boring. When 
sul>jected to heat it becomes a beautiful transparent, and 



115 

for casings of Tasos or smelting furnaces it is invaluable. It 
is one of the things worthy of attention. 

SAX JUAX DE SOXOEA, 

Pour leagues south-east of Campasis the ruined hacienda 
of San Ju in de Sonora, the ancient capital of Sonora, and 
in its immediate neighborhood the mountain and mineral 
of the same name. The mountain is isolated and perhaps 
a mile long, and the mineral veins cross it at nearly right 
angles. There are 14 mines upon it, only several of which 
deserve the appellation. They were very extensively worked, 
and according to tradition yielded large amounts of treas- 
ure. The entire mountain seems to have been mined over 
for the thin plates — often not over two inches in thickness 
— of almost pure metal. I was very careful in my investi- 
gations of these abandoned mines, as I had been favorably 
impressed with them through report. The principal mines 
are the Santa Ana, Rosario and Cata de la Agua ; the oth- 
ers I determined at once to be threads of metal, which ceased 
to exist in a depth of two to ten varas. The Santa Ana 
has been open cast a length of perhaps two hundred varas, 
and its deepest openings are one hundred and twenty varas. 
The encasing formation is a hypogene, and I noted on the 
upper end the occurrence of a diorite which has completely 
broken the vein off. The vein is two inches to a foot in 
thickness, and its ores are chlorides, exceedingly rich. From 
appearances in the lowest attainable depths, I was inclined 
toJ)elieve that the fissure was seriously contracting as depth 
was attained. The Rosario vein was similar to the Santa 
Ana, though it had not been worked to as great depth ; the 
Cata de la Agua possessed no regularity, and indicated that 
it had pinched out at a depth of fifteen varas. The Santa 
Ana has seemingly been worked to water. I beheve that 
these workings formerly yielded immense suuiS, but I also 



116 

believe that their veins arc too uncertain in continuance and 
their ores too limited in quantity to warrant such ex[)ondi- 
ture as would be necessary to make their treasures available. 

NACOSARI. 

Ten league? north of Cumpas is Nacosari mining section, 
(described in my Geological Report, ante) and the ancient 
real ol' Nacosari. I know of no more delightful spot than 
this could have been when in the hands of the Jesuits. All 
is now crumbling ruin ; but in the fertile valleys which since 
their day have grown over with dense thickets of mesquit, 
walnuts, oaks and sycamores, we find perpetuations of the 
cultivated Jesuit fathers in peach, pomegiauate and fig tree?:, 
which blossom and bear fruit, with none to gather. When 
in their possession, 30,000 head of cattle, horses and mules 
roamed its mountain sides. 

DENOUNCEMEXT OF EAXCHES. 

In the investigations conducted by myself and assistant 
we wTre strongl}^ impressed with the merits of two localities, 
viz : the " San Juan del Rio Ranche," on the Yaqui river 
above Oputo, and the "Nacosari Ranch," 10 leagues north 
of Cumpas ; and determined to take the preliminary steps 
to a proper denouncement of them. 

In consequence, I appeared before Don Gkegorio Moreno, 
Prefector of the District of Moctczuma, at Oposura, on Jan. 
31st, and in conformity with law and form made a formal de- 
nouncement of them. The Prefector accepted my denounce- 
ments, attached the usual notices to claimants to appear, or- 
dered the denouncements and attached notices to be published 
in the Periodico Ofidal newspaper for three successive weeks, 
and appointed Feb. 5th, as a day of investigation into titles 
of claimants. The three numbers of the Periodico Oficicdy 
dated respectively Feb. IGth and 27th, and Miirch 2d, in 



117 

which the denouncements were published, are herewith pre- 
sented ; and the accompanying document marked (A 1) is 
a certified copy of the original denouncement and attached 
notice of the Prefect or, the originals having heen forwarded 
to the Minister of Fomento, at Mexico. 

[I will here remark that as these and all other documents 
relating to the location of Grant, eta, occur in the Spanish 
language, I have translated them as correctly as it is pos- 
sible to do ; and these translations accompany the originals, 
^nd are correspondingly marked, that you may more clearly 
understand the course I pursued.] 

While I denounced these ranches subject to my investi- 
gations in other fields, I did so only after I had iliorouglily 
satisfied myself of their favorable character and extent, the 
value of their mineral deposits and those in their neighbor- 
hood, the many advantages and facilities for mining enter- 
prises which they possessed, and their adaptability to the 
purposes which were had in view in securing possessions in 
Sonora. And in designating the boundaries of the tracts, 
I placed them so as to include only such lands as were use- 
ful, necessary and valuable. 

JOUENEY NORTH. 

As soon as the conclusion of my investigations in this 
section and my wounded limb would permit me to proceed, 
I determined to penetrate the Indian country north and west 
of Cumpas. I saw the necessity of examining its mineral 
ranges and of making myself familiar with the country 
bordering on Arizona, and, particularly, the mineral and 
other features of Planchas de Plata and Nogales. The 
country was in no fit condition to undertake a journey of 
this nature. There was but a single settlement on my route 
— that of Bacuachi — numbering a few outlaws ; the balance 
of the country was in undisputed possession of the Apaches, 



118 

uuTisiteil, and almost unknown, and even spoken of with 
dread. 

We left Cnmpas on the moi-ning of the 4tb of Februaiyr 
accomp mied by our two servants and a single additional na- 
tive. The people of Cumpas accompanied us C7i masse a 
league on our journey, and parted from us firm in the belief 
that we were destined to be Apache victims. I must con- 
fess that I was not very sanguine of the result. It is 
needless to give a detailed statement of the occurrences of 
this journey; suffice it that each day had its adventures for 
our little party, none of which were of a pleasant nature^ 
and very many having a very serious aspect and thveaten- 
ins: Cital terminations ; and that from the moment of our 
departure until our return, we were surrounded by enemies 
waitiuic but for a sinfrle act of carelessness or inattention on 
our part to make us feel their presence. 

BACUACHI PRESIDIO. 

The presidio of Bacuachi is 23 leagues from Cumpas in 
a north-west direction; it is situated on an elevated plateau 
overlooking the West Sonora, which branches several leagues 
below the town. A more desolate place than Bacuachi ap- 
peared at this time could not easily be conjured into exis- 
tence ; and, indeed, Bacuachi of ancient glory had long since 
ceased to exist. Ruins of buildings were scattered over a 
considerable area ; and but a few adobe piles, seemingly once 
inhabited structures, and huddled around three sides of a 
lonely plaza, showed indications of being occupied. It was 
with some difficulty that we could induce a possessor of one 
of these mansions to give us the use of his corral for our- 
selves and animals. Bacuiichi was in former times one of 
the most considerable towns of Sonora Alta, having as late 
as 1830-10 a population of 2,000, besides a garrison of 
several hundred Oputos, and possessing considerable riches 



119 

in cattle, horses, sheep, &c. Through the incursions of the 
Apaches it was soon stripped of these ; and becoming em- 
boldened by the seeming lethargy or terror of its people, 
these enemies made systematic attacks upon it, killing off 
large parties of its people who ventured forth, and com- 
mitting massacres within its walls, until, at the time of our 
visit, it contained not more than 50 people, who called them- 
selves Liberals, but were really bandits, having an unenvia- 
ble reputation in the southern towns. A more cut-throat 
looking crowd than those who surrounded us on our arrival 
I am not desirous of meeting. They became so impudent 
in handling our effects, and inquisitive in prying into our 
purposes, that I feared unpleasant results before our depar- 
ture. What words of warning would not do, a judicious 
handling of our weapons effected ; and though we kept guard 
during the night, we saw no more of the Bacuachi hente. 
The climate of Bacuachi is cool, and early frosts occur which 
destroy the more tropical products. Its valleys produce a 
superior wheat and corn ; the people, however, are too indo- 
lent to cultivate them to extent, but are contented to live 
principally upon the various wUd fruits of the cactus and 
mesquit ; and the acorn of the oak is their chief subsistence 
a goodly part of the year. 

BACUACHI PLACEES. 

In the vicinity of Bacuachi are extensive dQuvium beds, 
which, before the expulsion of the inhabitants, were exten- 
sively worked for their gold deposits. Large quantities of 
this metal were taken from them, and numbers flocked to 
the locality on their first discovery. The gold occurs in 
coarse grains or water-worn nuggets, which have been found 
weighing 10 to 20 ounces. In late years parties worked 
these placers, receiving handsome returns ; but they ever 
ran the risk of being cut off by the savages, and soon de- 



120 

sertod thim. In the sierras suri'ouiKling are many silver 
and copper veins, which are not suflicioutly ex[>lored to de- 
termine anything definite coiiceruing their nature, though 
thei]' outcrops contain very favorable metalliferous indica- 
tions. 

Shortly after leaving Bacuachi, we surprised a party of 
Cachoka's mountain gang so completely that we got between 
them and their animals which were grazing a few rods distant 
from them, and their guns being lashed to their saddles we 
of course had the advantage. They were eleven in number, 
and showed themselves acqimnted with our every move and 
jmrjjose. It w\ns a grim meeting, and we breathed freer 
w'hen it was ended, though we were surprised they did not 
follow us. Our route was ver}^ circuitous, following the beds 
of what had been streams, and crossing mountains in almost 
every course. We passed several deserted ranche houses, 
unroofed and fast falling to decay. The country through 
which we traveled was a succession of broad canons, round- 
ed elevations and open viesas [table lands] interspersed with 
clumps of mesquit, and covered with grasses. Water was 
ver}' scarce. 

OJO DE AGUA. 

The Ojo de Agua ranche — 20 leagues from Bacuachi by 
the route we followed, though much less in a direct line — is 
one of the finest grazing ranches in the State, and at one 
time possessed 20,000 he::d of horses, mules and cattle. I 
have rarely seen a mure beautiful expanse of country — 
stretching like a vast undulating praiiie afar to the north, 
with here and there a conical shaped hill crowned with live 
oak intercepting the view. Its grasses are the mesquit and 
grama, the latter alounding and already green j and a fine 
stream of water courses through the lands. The buildings, 
which were spacious and elegant, are fast fahing to ruin. 



121 

Wild horses and cattle roam over the lands undisturbed, and 
but little is now left to denote that man reigned here in 
former days. ^ 

LA CANANEA HACIET^DA AND MINES. 

Three leagues over the mesas of Ojo de Agua brought us 
to La Cananea, the site of Governor Pesqueira's mines and 
reduction hacienda. The hacienda — with its rows of furna- 
ces and stacks of chimneys, and its houses surmounted with 
watch-towers, and turrets pierced for musketry — presented 
the appearance of an establishment of the feudal times. We 
found all desolation and decay, and could see the evidences 
of the hurried departure of its former occupants. The ha- 
cienda is cheerfully situated, and the houses and other im- 
provements are substantial. The site commands within a 
close circuit the elements essential to the successful conduct- 
ing of mining operations, &c. A small though permanent 
stream of water courses through the valley, which possesses 
some arable lands ; and timber for fuel is on the surround- 
ing mountains. A I2-horse power engine with boiler was 
standing in perfect order. This was a matter of surprise, 
as the engine house was erected of California lumber, and 
the roving Apaches ever delight in setting the torch to de- 
serted establishments. Twelve smelting furnaces were also 
in good repair. 

The mines of Xa Cananea are in the surrounding ranges, 
which here attain a considerable hight. It was my wish to 
give them careful and extended examination ; but we had 
visited only a few of the old workings, when our moso — 
whom we had stationed on a neighboring eminence, as was 
our custom, to apprise us of anything suspicious — gave the 
alarm that Apaches were on the peaks, commanding the 
canon, above and below us. We suspected these to be of 
the party who had been following us, though we soon had 



122 

evidence of the near presence of other parties. By almost 
superhuman efforts in dragging our horses and ourselves 
over the m ui^ain ridges, we avoided the trap they had set 
for us, and by use of the greatest caution and watchfulness 
eventually escaped from them. 

The formation of La Cananea is strongly mineralized, and 
in almost eveiy direction throughout the mountain one may 
stumble over fragments of outcrop and vein indications. 
There are, I believe, seven mines formerly worked to a con- 
siderable extent, besides openings in a number of others. Of 
these I saw but a few, though from them I gained a par- 
tially definite knowledge of the features of the occurrences. 
The formations consist principally of granites, metaraorphic 
limestones, and pahTOozoic slates, with occasional beds of 
quaternary. The diiferent series show irregularities and 
faults in their occurrences, which would at once have me de- 
cide that they have been greatly disturbed. We here find 
the more southerly of the volcanic peaks which are so fre- 
quent yet farther north, aud denote the latest periods of 
disturbance. The metalliferous veins bear external evidences 
of extent and a degree of permanency; though on closer 
inspection into the lay of the encasing rocks and occurrences 
of gangues and ores, we can only form the conclusion that 
they are not true veins ; neither are they simply confined to 
the surface, as their working is evidence, but form a me- 
dium between the two extremes. It is possible that the 
zone of disturbance may not exist to great depth, and that 
the vein fissures extend into the undisturbed underlying 
rocks. I am inclined to think differently, however, as I 
find no evidences of changes visible in the deeper workings, 
though I was obliged to judge simply from the appearance of 
the rocks taken from the openings. The zone of disturbance 
may extend to a depth of 200 or 300 feet, and upon meet- 
ing the change of rocks terminate there. If, however, the 



123 

vein fissures penetrate the undisturbed formation, the ores 
will suffer a change in nature, throwing aside much of their 
copper and taking the form of complicated ores of silver. 
The present existing copper ores are principally gray sul- 
phuret and red oxide with native copper ; and of silver ores, 
chloride and argentiferous galena, accompanied by c.irbonates. 
They occur in a ferruginous quartz with barytes, are easily 
reducible, and their yield is not large. The veins are three 
to five feet in thickness, which would lead me to believe that 
they will give a fair supply of ores. To determine, in a de- 
gree, the question of continuance, tunnels may be run in 
from the base of the mountains to cut them at a depth of 
200 to 300 feet below their outcrops. To compensate, how- 
ever, for the uncertainty concerning their continuance, this 
section contains numerous other veins which would furnish 
considerable ores at comparatively little expenditure for their 
removal. 

Between Cananea and Santa Cruz, a distance of eighteen 
leagues by the route we traveled, the country becomes more 
level, with little wood and a very limited supply of water. 
We passed the usual number of deserted haciendas; and 
"when in the vicinity of Santa Cruz, met a small party of 
Liberals, who manifested no desire to molest us. We arrived 
at Santa Cruz in the night ; and only after the greatest difiicul' 
ty secured a corral for our animals and a tumble-down adobe 
hut for ourselves, it being at first supposed by the inhabit- 
ants that we were the advance of one of the contesting par- 
ties, of whom they have a wholesome terror. 

SANTA CEUZ. 

Santa Cruz is the extreme northern settlement of Sonora, 
and is two leagues from the Arizona line. It is situated on 
a barren plateau overlooking a river, or more properly creek, 
of the same name, which has its rise in a mountain spring 



124 

north of the valley. A dilapidateil church, with a numher 
of adobe huts confusedly gi'ouped around it, compiises the 
town, which has a population of several hundred ]\Iexicans. 
The river valley is pretty and quite extensive, and the grain 
produced here finds ready sale at inflated prices to the 
United States forces and the Arizona mining establishments. 
The demand is greater than the supply ; and though we 
made diligent search at ever}'^ house in the town for a few 
pounds of flonr, offering any desired price for it, it was not 
to be had. After fasting until we appreciated the luxury of 
eating, we secured a corn tortillo — a pancake about the size 
and thickness of a dinner plate — for which we paid three 
dollars. 

In the presidio of Santa Cruz are the ruins of Cocospera 
and San Lazaro, old Jesuit missions, and several other towns 
of good extent, but long since deserted because of the Apa- 
ches. This presidio has suffered fearfully from the depreda- 
tions of these savages. Santa Cruz has the peculiarity of 
being cold all the year round, and we found the heavy folds 
of our blankets anything but disagreeable. This peculiarity 
of chmate is caused partly by the position of the surround- 
ing mountains, occasioning at ah times an unexplained suc- 
tion of winds, and partly because of its elevation, it being 
a dividing ridge on which the waters of Arizona and So- 
nera take their rise, the first named flowing north and the 
others south. The inhabitants of Santa Cruz are the per- 
fection of indolence and filth, vice and deceit; they have all 
the worst characteristics of Mexicans with none of their bet- 
ter ones. We remained here sufficiently long to make some 
desired investigations in the vicinity; and thence continuedj 
by way of the Mowry and San Antonio mines, to Fort Ma- 
son (Calabasas), twelve leagues distant in a north-east 
course. 



125 

CALABASAS. 

On the night of our arrival at Calabasas, the Apaches — 
some 40 in number, who had been upon our trail through- 
out our journeyings — followed us into the camp, forced their 
way into the corral in which the animals of the cavalry force 
were secured, and succeeded in running them all of, though 
there was a guard on the corral at the time. Our animals 
were only saved by our refusal to put them into the corral, 
and by keeping watch over them. We visited Nogales and 
Planchas de Plata, the latter ten leagues south of Calabasas, 
and also made some examinations to the west. Durino- our 
stay at Calabasas we were the guests of Col. Lewis, com- 
mandant at the fort, and are deeply indebted to him lor his 
hospitality and assistance in securing for us provisions for 
the road, which could not otherwise be obtained. 

VISIT TO PESQITEIEA. 

We continued to Tubac, and thence to the Cerro Colorado 
(Heintzelman) mine. Here we found a nephew of Governor 
Pesqueira, who conveyed us to his retreat, two leagues dis- 
tant. This retreat was in a lonely and almost inaccessible 
caiion, surrounded by lofty hilis upon which sentinels kept 
watch day and night. We found the Governor livino- in a 
miserable adobe hut, surrounded by evidences of great pov- 
erty, which we did not wonder at, as we had learned that his 
subsistence in great part came from Government supplies at 
Calabasas. In my letter written from Cerro Colorado, on 
February 13th, 1866, 1 gave you the substance of my con- 
versation with the Governor, viz. : On examining the Grajit 
from CoMOAFORT, he declared it to be good and valid, but he 
could do nothing in an official character, as regarded placing 
us in possession of and giving us title to the unclaimed lands 
I might SQ\Q:ii, until peace tvas restored to Sonora; that when 
this was brought about, you would have no further trouble 



126 

or delay in securing title to the unclaimed lands I might 
select, etc. 

During our stay at Cerro Colorado the Apaches made a 
raid upon it, driving away all the animals but our own and 
a few others. 

TO MAGDALEXA. 

From Cerro Colorado we went south to Arivaca and the 
Euricuittas mines (possessions of the Cerro Colorado Com- 
pany), and thence to Sarique, eighteen leagues south. 
From this place Ave continned our examinations east and 
west, again pissing carefully over the Planchas de Plata 
section, which I found more accessible from here, the Pa- 
jarito mountain range, and the country bordering on the 
boundary hne. On the road to Magdalena, 22 leagues from 
Sarique, we saw the usual number of ruins and evidences of 
a former prosperity. We suffered greatly from want of 
water, there being a forty-mile stretch without any; and 
passed a fearful night because of Apaches, who set the grass 
on fire around us, and made several attempts to surround 
us. On arriving at Magdalena we were almost worn out 
with constant watching and travehng, and our animals were 
in even a worse plight 

TOPOGKAPHY AXD GEOLOGY OF NORTH-WEST SOXOEA. 

The topographical features of the country north and west 
of Bacuachi and Fronteras in Sonora differ very materially 
from that composed of the more easterly sierras. In trav- 
eling north we find that the mountains begin to lose much 
of the boldness and regularity which so distinguish them 
farther south in the ranges, until, above Cananea, they have 
parted their continuity and are huddled together in groups, 
or stand out in isolated peaks. Volcanic cones become of 
frequent occurrence, and their scoriaceous rocks form exten- 



127 

sive mesas over the more elevated plateaus and stream-like 
occurrences in the valleys, or cap the higher ranges. The 
geological features of the section were no less marked, and 
in their occurrence they present evidences of the great and 
continued disturbances and their accompanying changes, 
which have taken place since the first upheaval. The por- 
phyries forming the controlling elements in the more east- 
erly ranges are here found only in intrusive dikes in the 
limestones, sandstones and slates of the ranges. The an- 
cient sedimentary strata — previously but chistose clays — 
are transformed into argillaceous slates in which are inserted 
beds of sandstone, and these are highly modified by the 
volcanic heats to which they have been subjected. The 
limestones are metamorphic rocks which appear to have 
been primitively the bottom of a cretaceous sea. The pal- 
aeozoic rocks — micaceous talcose and other slates — are in- 
vaded by masses of hypogene rocks, which have raised them 
from their original position and fractured or twisted them ; 
and the once horizontal limestones are also fractured and 
raised almost upon end, and rendered crystalline by the ir- 
ruption of igneous masses through them. These rocks are 
capped by immense beds of quaternary and conglomerate, 
and the valleys and footranges are covered with the frag- 
ments of the occurring formations. 

It were almost impossible to correctly trace the relation, 
both as to age and position, of these formation rocks to each 
other ; to such a degree have they been metamorphosed, 
bent, twisted, disturbed and fused. I have rarely seen a sec- 
tion of country so checkered with eruptive faults and dis- 
placements, or deformed from its origin d nature ; and there 
are occurrences here which are diametrically opposed to some 
theories of geology. The metalliferous veins occurring in 
the ranges have the same appearances of irregularity and 
imperfect continuance. Found in the limestones or at their 



128 

junction with the crystalline slates, or in the imperfect por- 
phyries, they are aflected by each of the successive results 
of continued and varying disturbances, and lose those marked 
features which distinguish them in more perfect ranges. 
The contemporary systems that m ly have existed on their 
formation now form tangled intrusions which cannot be unrav- 
eled and are cut, broken off, thrown flir from their course 
into diflering formations, or altogether terminated by the 
fractures and upheavals and dikes of the ranges. And as 
a flu'ther evidence of their segregated nature, their metallif- 
erous ores occur in bunches throughout the linear extent of 
the veins, connecting through long separating distances by 
threads of the metals; and the thickness of their fissurj oc- 
currences is limited, in a majority of cases being not more 
than three to twelve inches. As exceptional cases, we find 
limited ranges which these lateral disturbing influences have 
avoided, thus giving to them a more regular and perfect 
structure of their formation rocks, and to their veins the 
extent, thickness and undisturbed continuance of true fis- 
sure veins, with their regular distribution of ores. 

PLAXCHAS DE PLAT^. 

I do not consider the Planchas de Plata one of these ex- 
ceptional cases. On the contrary, its ranges show very 
marked evidences of continued eruptive disturbances in the 
mixtd and, in some localities, fused state of their formations. 
I could discover but few indications of metalHferous veins 
in the lands ; several had been partially opened upon and seem- 
ingly soon abandoned because of the irregular occurrence of 
the metals. The veins which I saw were of limited linear 
extent, their gangues were quartz, and the ores the chlorid- 
ized varieties, with native silver ; their thickness was very 
limited. 

Many excavations have l.een made in search of the vein 



129 

©1 vems from which the masses of silver which gave this 
place its name were taken, but without success, as any one 
with the least knowledge of metilliferous occurences could 
have predicted. Several hundred thousand dollars have been 
squandered by different parties in this vain search, and the 
sum total of returns foots up several small pieces of silver 
weighing an ounce to several ounces each. The large plan- 
chas of silver occurred in a silicious clay, containing round- 
ed fragments of quartz. This clay was undoubtedly a wash 
deposit gradually accumulated here from surrounding form- 
ations, or from distant sections, carried in by water torrents ; 
it would seem more likely that it came from a distance, from 
the fact of the existence of the rounded quartz pebbles, 
which could have secured this form only through attrition. 
The planchas were probably the resultants of intense volcanic 
heat upon the chemically changed outcrops of metalliferous 
veins, as the fused appearance and form of these masses 
would alone indicate; or they may have occurred through a 
gradual combination of the metalliferous particles washed 
from the decomposed outcrops of many veins, and brought 
in contact in their passage to where they were discovered. 
To continue the search for the vein in which they occurred 
would, to say the least, be a very unwise and unsafe expend- 
iture of money. 

MAGDALENA, 

Magdalena is a town of some importance from its geograph- 
ical position. It is on the direct road from Hermosillo to 
Calabasas, Tubac and Tucson ; and since the birth of mining 
enterprises and the establishment of military posts in Ari- 
zona, has become an important point for securing supplies. 
Large quantities of wheat, corn, panoche, and other products, 
are sent from here yearly to meet the wants of the northern 
country. The merchants ol Arizona are also beginning to 
(9) 



ISO 

purchase their goods here, and in Hermosillo and Guaym S, 
in preference to bringing them at a heavy expense overland 
from San Diego. The town is pleasantly situated, but shows* 
the usual degree of filth and inanity ; the church is the only 
creditable building in the town. 

CUCURPE. 
We next determined to proceed to Cncurpe, 14 leagues 
south-east of Magdalena and on the San Miguel river. The 
trail led through a very precipitous, gloomy and wild canon^ 
the favorite haunt of marauding Apaches, and where, I am 
informed, they have massacred over 300 men, women and 
children within the memory of man. We traveled through 
it at night, and arrived at Cucurpe at an early hour in the 
morning. The town is perched upon a concrete knoll, whose 
sides fall away almost precipitously, and is several hundred 
feet above the river, which it overlooks. When the mines 
in its vicinity were being worked it was a large and flourish- 
ing place. At the time of our visit it was almost deserted, 
the few who were too indolent to go elsewhere being en- 
sconced in the tumble-down ruins of farmer houses. On 
the breaking out of the contest it sent 250 men to join 
Pesqueira — scarcely twenty of whom are now left. We 
found the usual difficulty in getting a corral for ourselves 
and animals, and something to subsist on. 

SANTA THERESA MIXES. 

Cucurpe is the center of an ancient and noted raining dis' 
trict, whose mines have been abandoned for many years. 
The mjst noted are those of the Santa Theresa district, IS 
leagues distant in a northerly direction, and in which are 
the reals Viejo, S nta Viviana and San Antonio. The prin- 
cipal mines are the Trinidad, San Antonio, Santa Yertrudiay 
Corazon de Maria, fcJan Francisco, La Cruz, and six others. 



131 

which have been extensively worked, in the San Antonio 
real ; El Buro, Santa Viviana, El Mante, and several others, 
ill the Santa Viviana real ; and a number whose names I do 
not know, in the real Viejo. The San Yertrudia has a tra- 
ditional fame; an exceedingly rich pocket was met with near 
the surface, which con inued to a depth of thirty yards, when 
it gave out. At the present depth, fifty yards, the vein is 
much broken up, and only small threads of metal are found. 
Corazon de Maria is but a branch of it. The Trinidad, San 
Francisco aiad La Cruz have a width of three to four-and-a- 
half feet near the surface, with rich ores to a depth of forty 
to fifty yards, when the veins invariably lose their regular- 
ity, ramify and soon become lost. And so, I think, will it 
occur with the others of this district when developed to 
greater depth. The encasing formations are metamorphic 
limestone and the palaeozoic slates ; the veins have a quartz 
gangue. The ores are principally gray and black sulphurets 
and antimonial silver, with blende, arsenical pyrites and 
black manganese. 

EL CAJON DE LA BEISCA. 

El cajon de la Brisca is about seven leagues east of the 
town of Cucurpe. It drains a large extent of country, and 
falls into Saracache river. Caliche, Las Bias and El Durazno 
are branch ravines, and, with the adjacent table lands, have 
been worked quite extensively for the gold they contain. 
These and the p'acers of Santa Domingo, Santa Rafael, San 
Simon and El RoFario form the Brisca gold field, and are 
abundantly and profitably worked during the rainy season. 
La Sierra de la Caliche, in the vicinity, also contains gold 
mines, of which the principal ones are the Buena Vista and 
La Sierra. The first named has been worked to great ex- 
tent, and considerable amounts of gold taken from a decom- 
osed ferruginous quartz. 



132 

WHAT \VK EFFECTED. 

The road taken by us — there being no traveled trail — to 
Siniquipe, 22 leagues east, on the Sonora river, was extreme- 
ly mountainous. A former traveled trail is now deserted 
because of Apaches, and we were obliged to find our way 
over the mountains as best we could. We had another ter- 
rible night with the Apaches, who abound in this neighbor- 
hood. From Siniquipe we continued south to Banamachi, 
and thence across the mountains to Cumpas, where we ar- 
rived on the evening of the 2Gth ; having since our depart- 
ure traveled nearly 800 miles, through a country abounding 
with the worst of living enemies^ and the greater part of 
which was a wilderness where the common necessaries of life 
were not to be had. We had made the circuit of Northern 
Sonora, and visited its mineral ranges and mines, ancient 
and modern. 

AFTER JOURNEYIXGS. 

I will not dwell upon our after journeyings over many of 
the fields already described and very many others, and the 
events of each da v. It will be sufficient to remark that we 
were encompassed by difficulties and dangers which many 
times caused us to fear the result ; but we saw the necessity 
of using every effort to successfully and speedily complete 
our mission despite personal risk and privation. 

On March 16th I was furnished by the Prefector with a 
certified statement (A 2) [see pp. 67, 68, anU-] and his Of- 
ficial Letter of Statement to the Governor of State, of which 
the accompanying (A 3) [see p ^)9,ante\ is a certified copy, 
to be delivered by me to him. I made no delay in present- 
ing these Statements, notices of Denouncements, Original 
Grant and accompanying papers, and Power of Attorney, 
to the Governor of State, at Hermosillo, for his immediate 
consideration. In consequence of the great pressure of war 



133 

business, I was detained here for some time — though the 
Governor manifested ahnost as great anxiety as myself to 
have my business satisfactorily arranged. We determined 
to visit Guaymas and take joint action with the Imperial 
Commissioner — a party appointed by Maximiltas to act for 
him in such civil matters as might require his approval. 
After consultation with this Commissioner, he at once de- 
termined that I must be given possession of the lands 
through the survey called for by the conditions of the Grant. 
Eon Geegorio Moreno, the former Pref 'ctor of Moctezuma, 
had been captured with the other Imperial officials by Pes- 
QUEiRA, on the day after my departure from Cumpas. The 
Governor now appointed another, and gave me an order upon 
him, calling for the appointment of a Surveyor for the lands 
denounced. I at once returned to Opo&ura, and presented 
the order to Don Antonio Taran y Barrios, the newly ap- 
pointed Prefector, who, after some delay, gave me a letter 
(A 6) [see ante, pp. 69, 70] to Don Vicente Provencio, ap- 
pointing him Official Surveyor to make the surveys called 
for in the Grant. I employed two additional servants — 
having retained but one since shortly after my return from 
the Arizona journey — and continued across the mountains 
from Oposura to Huasabas and Granadas, on the Yaqui 
river, and 12 leagues east. 

HUASABAS AND GRANADAS. 

These towns are within a league of each other, and show 
more cleanliness and thrift than are generally found in Mex- 
ican towns. Quite an extensive valley of very fertile lands, 
eminently adapted to the cultivation of wheat, corn, sugar, 
cotton, &c., is in their immediate vicinity. Below Granadas, 
the mountains close in upon the river, leaving very little 
arable land. 



184 

LAM PASOS MINES. 

In these mount ins are the Promontorio and Lam Pasos 
mines. The latter, several of which are of note, have been 
worked to a depth of 200 to 300 feet, yielding exceedingly- 
well. They occur in a porphyritic granite, regular and with 
veins strough- defined. The veins average two to lour lect 
in thickness, and have an almost vertical dip. The ores iire 
argentiferous near the surface, occurring in a coniby quartz, 
and are now gradu lly assuming the nature of pol\ basite 
and gray fahlerz. These mines have been operated without 
system. 

PROMONTORIO MINES. 

The Promontorio mines are six leagues south of Grana- 
das, in a conical mountain — the outcrop of their veins being 
500 leet above the river. The principal mine has been 
worked during the past two years bj'' several parties, though 
with no great success. The encasing rocks are strongly 
quartzose; the vein is well defined, averaging two feet wide 
at the surface, and at the lowest depth of workings (about 
50 feet) three-and-a-half to four feet wide. The vein ores 
are one-and-a-half to two feet wide, and are a gray fahlerz 
and red oxide, the fahlerz carrying a heavy percentage of 
silver. A considerable quantity of ores are in sight. 

LA PROYIDENCIA. 

La Providencia, a mine but a short distance from Grana- 
das, was worked to considerable extent in former times. It 
is now filled with rubbish, and but little can be determined 
regarding it. Its encasing formation is a compact diorite, 
and its vein is well defined and carries a quartz gangue. Its 
ores are argentiferous galena and chloro-bromide, seemingly 
well distributed throughout the vein matrix, which is about 
three feet in width. 



135 

OFFICIAL ACTION. 

Tiie Surveyor appointed called for an escort of twenty- 
five men to accompany him in his survey. I refused to take 
more than the six measurers who were allowed him by the 
. law. These, with the Surveyor and his father (who proposed 
to accompany him), and ourselves and servmts, made a 
party of thirteen* He thought the Governor's and Prefec- 
tor's orders were peremptory demands, and determined to go* 

With the Surveyor and party we proceeded north eight 
leagues to Oputo, and thence to the lands of San Juan del 
Ilio which I had denounced. Having found that I would 
be permitted to loc ite the four square leagues in a single 
tract, I had selected the San Juan del Rio ranche as con- 
taining the greater advantages in itself, and at the same 
time, in a sense, controlling the mines in and surrounding 
the Nacosari tract. Monuments were erected at each cor- 
ner, and are so correctly described in the documents of sur- 
vey [see ante, pp. 71-74 and Map,] that their locality may 
easily be distinguished. On the completion of the survey, 
I found that the tract did not, hy the measurement of the 
surveyors, contain quite four leagues. Before I would accept 
it, I obliged them to include within the monuments a suffi- 
cient amount of lands to make up the deficiency, which they 
did. 

The descriptions, notices and chart of survey were pre* 
pared at Oposura, and after being examined and accepted 
by me, were delivered by the Surveyor to the Prefector of 
the district, who accompanied them with a letter and gave- 
them into my hands, sealed, to be delivered to the Governor , 
Certified copies of these documents are herewith presented 
(marked respectively A 7 and A 8) [see ante, pp. 70-75]. 
I also secured a paper from the Surveyor certifying that the 
lands of San Juan del Rio had been abandoned for many 



13G 

years (A 9) [see (mte>> p. 7")]. I succeeded iu having; the 
Prelector issue an order to the Alcalde at Oputo, to notify 
the people not to trespass upon the hinds which I had se- 
cured (A 10) [see auk, p. 76]. With the documents in- 
trusted to me by the PrefecLor 1 immediately departed for 
■01.(3^ — making a nund)er of very narrow escapes on the 
road. We arrived in Ures on the morning of the cessation 
of three days' fighting between the Imperialists, who held 
the town, and a Liberal force — which was determined by the 
withdrawal of the Liberals. 

The Governor and Secretary of State were in Ures; and 
to thi m I presented the package from the Prefector of Moc- 
tezuma, containing the papers of Survey and letter of Pre- 
fector. The original Grant and accompanying papers and 
Power of Attorney were also taken b}' the Governor, to be 
reniitti d to the Minister of Fomento at Mexico. I prepared 
a copy of the Grant and accompanying documents, which 
were certified to as being correct copies by the Secretary of 
State, and then deposited among the archives of the State. 
I also had copies of the Survey and other papers, the Grant 
and accompanying documents, and the Power of Attorney, 
made and certified to as correct copies — all of which are 
herewith presented. The original papers, viz : the Grant 
and papers connected therewith ; Power of Attorney ; orig- 
inal denouncements and notices of Prefector ; copies of the 
Feriodico Oficicd newspaper, containing the denouncements 
and notices ; Certificate and Letter of Statement of Pre- 
fector Moreno to Governor Astiasaran ; Governor's order 
lor survey to Prelector Takan y Barrios ; Prefector's letter 
of appointment to Surveyor Provencio ; Surveyor's notices, 
certificates, descriptions and plans of survey; Prefector 
ZuBiAs' letter, accompanying survey, to Governor Salazar ; 
and lastly, the Governor's letter (of which a copy is pre- 
sented, marked A 11,) [see ante, pp. 76, 77] to the Minister 



137 

of Fomento, accompanying the papers above named, were 
all placed in a package, sealed and directed, in my presence, 
to Minister of Fomento, at the City of Mexico, and marked 
with the Governor's seal And thus were those purposes of 
my mission over which I had control successfully terminated. 

I must here remark that— although we were subjected to 
some annoyances and jealousies from the petty officials, civil 
and military, of the State — in our communications with the 
higher officials we were ever received with the very highest 
respect and consideration. They could not have shown more 
courtesy and kindness; and this is equally true of the better 
classes in the towns through which we traveled. 

We left Guaymas, June 13th, via San Francisco, for New 
York, arriving there July 21st. 
Very respectfully, 

CUMMINGS CHERRY, 
Geologist and Mining Engineer. 

JAMES CR'm.nY, Assistant Geologist. 
Pittsburgh, Pa , August 13th, 1866. 



LETTER FROM GOV. PESQUEIRA. 

The following is an extract from a letter of Gov. Pes- 
QUEiRA to Mr. CuMMiNGS Cherry, reccivcd Oct. 1, 1866— 
more than five weeks subsequent to the first publication of 
the "History of Title," on pp. 60—78 ante. In positive 
and unequivocal language, it will be seen, he repeats the 
opinion and promise made in person to Mr. Cherry, as 
related on p. 60, and again on p. 125, ante. 

Alamos, State of Sonora, Mexico, 

[Translation.] j^ly ^^^^^ ^^ jggg 

" Eelative to the Concession of Four Leagues of untitled lands 
granted to you by President Comonfort in 1857, I said to you, in 



138 

San Ramon, that as Governor of Sonora I considered it valid, and 
would give to you the possession of these lands immediately upon 
the re-establishment of Constitutional order in all the territory of 
the State. * * * I continue to you 

A very Attentive and Sure Servant, 

Y. PESQUEIRA. 



:e::r:eij^tj^ : 



Page 11, line 30, /or C. F. Hussey read C. Q. Hussey. 

" 14, " 1, /or Priets reacZ Priete. 

" 22, " 12, /or electric rea(i electro. 

" 27, " 16, /or and the summit ridge reatZ and over the sum- 
mit ridge. 

*' 47, " 15, /or sacatom read sacatone. 

*' 50, " 2, for equalibility read equability. 

" 50, *' 32, /or Liberal and Imperial read Liberal or Im- 
perial. 

" 54, " 35, Jor Timbres read Fimbres. 

«' 57, " 4,/or $60,000 rea(^ §95,000. 

*' 68, " 25, /or ignorant of reacZ ignorant if. 

" 71, " 14, /or as reacZ so. 

" 72, " 26, Jor Paiias read Peiias. 

" 73, " 5, yor North-West and East, reafZ North, West and 
East. 

" 74, " 4, for of, above, the read of (above) the. 

" 77, ** 19, yor corrcetly reatZ correctly. 

" 111, " 28,/orJanori read Tanori. 

" 116, last line,/or Feb. 27th read Feb. 23d. 

" 126, line 8, /or Euriguittas read Enriguitta. 

" 127, " 1, place a comma after j^^ateaus. 

" 127, " 10, yor chistose reacZ schistose. 



